Life at Sea
by YungVodkaDikost
Summary: Freedom was her goal and she would do anything to attain it. Even if that meant striking down those in her path and signing away her soul to the depths of the sea. After a mysterious encounter at a shady bar, Sakura finds the escape she had been looking for. Now the medic of the infamous Akatsuki pirate crew, she uses her gift to help them towards their goal and her own. Pirate AU
1. The Runaway

**So, I'm back with a new story. This story has been floating around in my mind for quite some time and I decided that now was the time to get it written and get it posted. I've been working on this chapter almost nonstop since early yesterday and I'm extremely excited to finally be able to post it.**

 **I want to give a huge shout out to _Orangana_ for helping me with this and giving me so many wonderful ideas and pointer for this story. This story probably wouldn't near ready to post if it wasn't for her. Forever thankful for your help, beautiful!**

 **Summery; Freedom was her goal and she would do anything to attain it. Even if that meant striking down those in her path and signing away her soul to the depths of the sea. After a mysterious encounter at a shady bar, Sakura finds the escape she had been looking for. Now the medic of the infamous Akatsuki pirate crew, she uses her gift to help them towards their goal and her own. With bitterness and the ache of betrayal driving her, will these rough and rowdy pirates succeed in repairing her broken soul? Will Sakura be able to forgive the sins of the past? Will Sakura ever be able to love another ever again? Maybe all she needed was the salt laced wind blowing through her hair and the sweet scent of freedom guiding her way as she sails the seas into the horizon. Pirate AU**

 **Warning; Rating is subject to change.**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story.**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow.**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

A young girl of eleven sat on her windowsill, staring out the lone window in her room with longing. Oh how she wished that she could go outside. The day she and her family had found out the she had an aptitude for healing, her parents had not permitted her to leave the house since. That had been four years ago. She had not left her family home in four long years and oh how she yearned to feel the wind on her face. Since finding out about her abilities, Sakura's family had forced the young child to master her gift so they could turn her gift into a profit.

Not once had they ever taken her feelings towards being used as nothing more than a cash cow into consideration.

Hell, she couldn't even remember the last time her parents had looked at her with any form of adoration. Whenever her parents had need for her, they would send a servant of the house to fetch her. They never came to her room and tucked her in at night like they used to. They didn't even call her by her name anymore. They no longer looked at her as their daughter, to them, she was nothing more than a tool for them to use. And at the tender age of eleven, Sakura wanted nothing more than to escape the place that she was forced to call home. She knew that once she turned of age, she would be forced to marry a man of her parents choosing.

First her gift was being sold and now in just a few short years, her life would be sold to the highest bidder. The pink haired child couldn't help but feel bitter about her situation. Nobody got to choose the hand they were dealt by the Fates, but she would have given anything for them to give her a different hand. She didn't care if that meant she had to grow up on the streets. Anything was better than being a prisoner to your own parents. But then again, she would not wish her life onto anybody else. For now, she would endure. But once a chance came to her...she would escape this place and never look back.

* * *

The scent of sea salt drifted through the air as Sakura wandered down the dirt trodden path that led to the only bar in town. Normally, she wouldn't be caught dead going there, but after a hard days work in the seaside village of Ame, she needed a drink in her hand as soon as possible. The only thing that could make her day anymore irritating was if the seemingly never-ending rain decided to be a bastard and begin once again. Rain was a common thing in this village, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. As a wandering medic, it was her job to travel from place to place and aid those who needed her most. She enjoyed her job immensely, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed all the places she visited. But then again, anywhere was better than that hellhole she had run away from so many months ago. Now that she was free, she wasn't about to start complaining about something as ridiculous as a little rain. With a small sigh, she pushed her candy colored bangs from her eyes, the bar was finally in her sights. She mentally prepared herself for the awkward comments about her hair being natural or not. No matter where she went, it seemed that her coral colored hair was the thing she was recognized for more than anything, not her medical expertise, her fucking _hair._ She'd been tempted to dye it a dark shade but had quickly decided against it.

Pushing open the doors the led into the bar, Sakura inwardly groaned at the sight the greeted her. Men, nothing but men. Was it too much for her to ask for a female drinking partner for once? Apparently so. She mentally shook her head and weaved her way towards the bar, dodging drunken men every step of the way, even breaking the fingers of a handsy male who thought he was brave. Strong, independent women were rare these days, and she just so happened to be one of those rare women. She saw no desire in wearing thirty pound dresses that constricted her breathing, granted she had not been forced to wear one of those godforsaken dresses since she was a mere child and her gift had not appeared yet.

No, she much preferred her tight, leather shorts that hugged her bottom, fishnet stockings running up her legs, ending just underneath her shorts. Her stomach was bare, breasts bound with bandages and a tight leather top covering the bandages, the sleeves of her top ending just above her elbows. She wore simple leather gloves with holes for each of her fingers on her hands. Black combat style boots adorned her feet, extending up to her mid-calf. She wore a simple black cloak over her clothes, her waist length pink hair was bound in twin pony tails that cascaded down her back. She knew it was dangerous for a woman her age to walk around in such attire, but it was comfortable, especially with the amount of traveling she did, dressing light and comfortably was best.

After dodging a few more drunken men, she hoisted herself gracefully onto the only barstool that didn't reek of vomit and god knows what other bodily fluid and signaled for the barkeeper. She didn't miss his glossy eyes giving her body a once over, although there wasn't much to see due to her cloak, it didn't stop men from trying to sneak a peak. She resisted the urge to sigh at his oogling, opting to clear her throat instead.

"What'll you have, miss?", the barkeep asked, his eyes never drifting away from the small opening in her cloak.

"Rum, the strongest you have.", Sakura replied, knowing that using any sort of manners in this place would get her nothing but strange looks. She'd been to these places before, but it wasn't as if she didn't know how to act like a decent person when the need for it arose. These were hard times and in most places, being nice would only get you hurt in the long run. She had learned the hard way.

 _'You are not about to start thinking of the family you left behind while you are trying to drink and relax in a borderline brothel, you stupid girl. Just drink your rum and shut the fuck up',_ she inwardly scolded herself.

Life hadn't been easy since she had runaway from her family's estate, but in these times, being a woman wasn't a very easy thing to be. She had refused to abide by the social standards of a lady. She had been expected to be a polite little doll to be sold off to the highest bidder. She had been expected to use her gift for healing whenever her father ordered her to do so, even if she didn't want to. Some days she swore that her healing gift was nothing more than a curse. But the expectations her so called family had for her didn't end there, not by a long shot. She had been expected to produce an heir for her father's legacy, he even had the gall to order her to make sure her offspring carried her gift for healing.

She had been expected to do many things, but she had never been asked what _she_ wanted. Never asked what she wanted to do with her life. Never asked what she wanted to do as an adult. Nothing but expectations and she refused to be nothing more than a tool for her father now that she was an adult. When her father had told her that she was going to basically be sold to a family on the coast for an undisclosed amount of money, she had put her foot down. When her father refused to reason with her, she left. She had finally found her opening and fled her home in search of a better life and she had no plans of looking back, especially now that she had found a little bit of freedom.

Her bitterness towards her family didn't just extend to her father either, in Sakura's eyes, her mother was just as guilty as her father. Whenever Sakura had attempted to avoid healing someone in need at her family's estate, her mother would sit back and watch as she was punished. Never once stepping in to defend the girl that was supposed to be her daughter. When her father had told her mother that he had found the perfect man to sell their daughter to, her only question had been about how much money they would be receiving for Sakura. It had been all about the money, never about Sakura's well-being.

The servants of the house were just as guilty as the people who were supposed to be her parents. They had always turned a blind eye to her whenever she returned to her room bloody, broken, or just plain exhausted. Sakura would have been lying if she claimed to feel any remorse for the three servants that she had had to kill in order to escape the estate and gain her freedom. In her eyes, they had deserved every painful cry that she had torn from their throats. The sickening crunch of their bones shattering and breaking still played in her mind, she couldn't help the small sadistic smile that graced her lips at the memory. Though she was technically a wanted woman and the servants weren't the only people she'd had to kill since leaving the estate, her life was much better than it had been. Nothing in the world could make her even consider returning to the hellhole she had escaped from.

If she had to continue to take out the people that got in her way to retain her freedom, then so be it.

"And look at where you are now, a somewhat successful medic drinking alone in a shady ass bar.", she muttered to herself before taking a large drink from the glass of rum in her hand. It burned going down, but that wasn't about to bother her one bit. There were worse things in life than a little alcohol burning her throat. She set the glass back down on the counter and turned in her chair to survey the bar, wondering if she would find who she was really seeking on her travels. In truth, the true reason she was wandering from town to town was so she could hopefully run into the infamous pirate crew known as the Akatsuki. From what she had heard through the rumor mill, they would be the perfect people to help her get back at her father for the things she had to endure as a child.

They would be able to give her the true sense of freedom that was so desperately seeking. Coupled with the fact that it would be nearly impossible for her to be arrested and hung for her crimes against both her family and the country. Normally, men would be let off with nothing but a slap on the wrist for killing somebody. But as a woman, she would be hung without question. And she wasn't ready to die just yet. She had been lucky so far that the people she had healed had either never heard of her or were too desperate for healing that they didn't care that she was technically a murderer.

For now, all she could do was hope that the Akatsuki would require a medic and would be willing to take her in.

"Oh, who am I kidding? Nobody in their right mind would take a pink haired eighteen year old healer with a grudge seriously..especially one that is wanted for somewhere around ten murders.", she grumbled bitterly. With a small sigh, she turned back towards her glass, intending to down it as quickly as she could before getting another one in her system. Her aim was to get drunk at that moment, a foolish thought she knew, but she wasn't in the mood to act smart. She just wanted to feel like a normal person for once in her life. Since the discovery of her gift, she hadn't been treated like a normal human being by anybody, not even the clients she healed as she journeyed. The moment someone found out that she didn't use traditional medical techniques, she was treated like she was a monster. So, once her obligation was completed, she took her payments and left without a second thought.

"You look like you're thinking pretty fucking hard there, Pinky.", a voice snickered.

Sakura snapped out of her self pitying thoughts and turned in the direction of the voice that had clearly addressed her, after all, how many people had pink hair?

"What's it to you if I'm thinking?", she asked smoothly, a pink eyebrow raised questioningly. Sakura took in the sight of the male next to her, noting that he didn't look like he was much older than her self. Piercing purple eyes bore into her own jade eyes. Silver hair slicked back tastefully and wearing nothing but a strange pendant around his neck and a simple pair of black leather pants.

"It doesn't fucking matter what you're doing, but I'd watch my ass if I were you. Most of these fuckers look like they're already molesting you with their eyes, wouldn't want to give them a chance to actually do it, now would we?", the stranger replied with a small smirk, his eyes roaming over the small woman next to him. It wasn't everyday that a woman wandered into the bar, especially an attractive one.

"Why, you worried about me?", she replied with a smirk of her own. Despite his foul mouth, she didn't feel like she was in any danger sitting next to the mysterious man. In fact, in a weird way, it felt almost comforting.

 _'Don't start getting comfortable, Sakura. You never know about the shady ass people you run into in these villages. Knowing your luck, he could be after your bounty as well. Better to be cautious.',_ she inwardly scolded herself for her foolishness.

"I wouldn't say I'm worried about you, Pinky. If the fucking rumors about you are anything to go by, I'm pretty sure you could lay me flat on my ass without even breaking a sweat.", the silverette replied with a small chuckle.

"And what rumors are going around about me? And how are you so sure that I'm the one they're talking about, it isn't like I give out my name to people.", she challenged with a small glint of amusement flashing in her emerald eyes.

"For one, it's pretty obvious that they are about you, how many people have fucking pink hair? Yeah, thought so. And second, I heard this little rumor that you've got this interesting gift for healing people, even it's from the brink of death from a disease. That, and they're blaming the small earthquakes that have been shaking the lands around here on you as well, don't fault me for being a little damn curious. Plus a few other things that are best left unspoken in the open.", he explained, quirking an eyebrow when he saw her flinch slightly when he mentions the small earthquakes that had been shaking the village for the past few days.

"Well, you aren't wrong about the healing thing. I doubt I could deny that no matter how hard I tried to. As for the earthquakes, I have nothing to say on the matter. No need to give the surrounding villages more reason to think I'm some sort of demon from Hell.", she replied bitterly.

"I thought most medics were supposed to be gentle and kind creatures, you seem pretty fucking bitter.", the silvertte pointed out with a small frown.

"Well, excuse me for not being the perfect lady I was supposed to be raised to be.", she spat before she turned back to he long forgotten glass of rum, taking the rest of the drink in one go before slamming the glass down on the counter hard enough for it to shatter. With one last look at the stranger next to her, she hopped down from her seat and made her way out of the bar and back onto the streets, inwardly scolding herself for losing her temper.

Sakura looked over her shoulder as she made her way down the dirt path that would lead her back to the forest surrounding the village, frowning when she noticed that the man from the bar had followed her.

"Probably just wants to smite me for being some sort of demon.", she sighed to herself. Some days she just wished that she could be alone. That people wouldn't judge her because she was different. But then again, she would rather be able to help people and be considered a demon rather than stand idly by while people died for no reason. She was sick of being the bitter woman that she had become but what options did she really have?

"Oi, Pinky, wait up!", a voice called from behind her.

"Why? You want to tell me I'm demon from the depths of hell and have the Gods smite me?", she called back, not even pausing in her trek towards the forests.

"No, bitch. Now stop fucking walking away from me so I can talk to you, fucks sake.", the silverette from the bar called back.

With a sigh, Sakura stopped in the middle of the path and waited for the stranger to catch up with her. Her body tensed in case she needed to run away from this man. Hell, she didn't even understand why she had listened to him and stopped in the first place. The moment the male came up next to her, she started walking again, waiting for him to speak. When minutes of silence greeted her, she let out an annoyed sigh and turned her head towards the strange man.

"So, you going to say something now that I've waited for you? Or are you just going to walk next to me like we're on some sort of pleasant evening stroll.", she groaned. She really didn't know what was up with this guy, usually unless somebody wanted something from her, they wouldn't even look in her direction, much less speak to her. She couldn't help but be a little suspicious about his obvious curiosity about her.

"I was thinking, don't be so damn impatient. You're starting to sound like the Puppet Fucker.", the man snapped back.

"I don't think I want to know who or what a Puppet Fucker is, but what are you thinking so hard about?", she asked with another sigh.

"I was thinking about taking you to meet my fucking boss.", he explained vaguely with a smirk. He knew she was starting to get annoyed, but he couldn't help it. She was just so damn interesting when she was angry. The sight of her shattering a glass against the counter back at the bar continued to play through his mind. He couldn't help but be interested by the strange young woman. He couldn't help but wonder what other sorts of abilities she could be hiding from the world.

"And why, pray tell, would you want to take me to meet your boss? What purpose would that serve?", she asked suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Because, stupid, we need a medic. Plus, he would pay you better than the people in the villages would. _And_ you wouldn't be scorned because you're fucking different. Everyone he employs isn't exactly normal. Plus I know for a fact that you're a wanted criminal, kind of hard to arrest someone if they aren't on dry land, don't you think?", he explained with an exasperated sigh.

"Everyone isn't normal? Just who are you?", she asked, squinting at the man. From the looks of him, he didn't look different, but then again, neither did she. Aside from her hair color, she looked as normal as anybody else.

"Hidan the Immortal. Member of the Akatsuki pirate crew.", he introduced with a smirk.

"You're a member of the Akatsuki? I always heard that they had a tattoo of a crimson cloud on their bodies, I don't see a tattoo anywhere.", she accused.

"You seem to know your shit, kid. That's true, we do have tattoos, and yes, I have one. It's on my leg.", he explained before reaching down to pull up his left pant leg, turning it slightly so she could see the crimson cloud on the back of his calf.

Sakura's jaw dropped when she saw the tattoo. She had been looking for the Akatsuki since she ran left her home and now one of the very people she had been looking for was standing right in front of her. It seemed that Lady Luck was on her side for once.

"Well, since you're telling me the truth, I'll meet with your boss if you really want me to. In truth, I was actually hoping I would meet a member of the Akatsuki one day.", she admitted as she watched him pull his pant leg back into place. She couldn't even imagine how annoying it had been to pull skin tight leather up his leg just to prove to her that he wasn't lying. Not that she didn't appreciate him proving it to her, that is.

"One thing you'll find out is that I don't fucking lie, Pinky. Also, now that I gave you my name, why don't you give me yours.", he pointed out before he began walking again, the pinkette falling into step next to him.

"Name's Sakura. Yes, I know it's cliche as all hell. You don't need to remind me.", she replied with an unladylike snort, receiving a small chuckle in response from Hidan in the process.

"Well, Sakura, let's go meet up with the Captain. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to fucking take you in. We've been in need of a medic for quite some time. Everyone on the ship is sick of the shitty stitch job Stitch Face gives them every time one of us gets hurt.", Hidan explained, steering her towards a path to the left, the sea and the ships docked coming into sight.

"I can assure you that I could do a much better job than he could, and all without the use of stitches.", she smirked, holding up a glowing mint green hand, showing off her gift.

"Trust me, I believe you. It's the Captain that you're going to have to convince.", he sighed.

"Well then, bring me to him.", she ordered, pointing at the ship that absolutely screamed piracy. She took in the sight of the gigantic black ship, it's beauty was something that belonged in a story book. If it was this beautiful from afar, she couldn't wait to see it up close.

"Then let's go.", he replied before taking off in a dead run in the direction of the ship.

Not one to be outdone, Sakura took off after him, easily matching his pace and picking up speed whenever he would.

They raced towards the ship.

Sakura raced towards her freedom.

* * *

 **So there's the first chapter. I really hope everybody enjoyed the first installment of Life at Sea.**

 **Again, thank you so much to Orangana for all her help in making this story into what it is, I don't think I could have done this without her advice and suggestions.**

 **Again, please leave a review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	2. Meeting the Captain

**So sorry for the wait on this chapter! I never expected to get such a positive response with this story and it gives me the warm fuzzies to know that people are enjoying it as much as I am enjoying writing it! A little more backstory ahead! Brace yourselves for some Captain action!**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper!**

* * *

 _Previously;_

 _"Name's Sakura. Yes, I know it's cliche as all hell. You don't need to remind me.", she replied with an unladylike snort, receiving a small chuckle in response from Hidan in the process._

 _"Well, Sakura, let's go meet up with the Captain. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to fucking take you in. We've been in need of a medic for quite some time. Everyone on the ship is sick of the shitty stitch job Stitch Face gives them every time one of us gets hurt.", Hidan explained, steering her towards a path to the left, the sea and the ships docked coming into sight._

 _"I can assure you that I could do a much better job than he could, and all without the use of stitches.", she smirked, holding up a glowing mint green hand, showing off her gift._

 _"Trust me, I believe you. It's the Captain that you're going to have to convince.", he sighed._

 _"Well then, bring me to him.", she ordered, pointing at the ship that absolutely screamed piracy. She took in the sight of the gigantic black ship, it's beauty was something that belonged in a story book. If it was this beautiful from afar, she couldn't wait to see it up close._

 _"Then let's go.", he replied before taking off in a dead run in the direction of the ship._

 _Not one to be outdone, Sakura took off after him, easily matching his pace and picking up speed whenever he would._

 _They raced towards the ship._

 _Sakura raced towards her freedom._

* * *

Sakura couldn't think of another time in her life that she had felt so at peace. She never would have guessed that all it took to put her at peace was running down a path, towards a pirate ship, and with a wanted and dangerous pirate running next to her. Somehow in her eyes, it felt like this was exactly how her life was truly supposed to be. She may not have been proud of the thing she'd had to do to get to this point, but she certainly did not regret them. She didn't know if that made her a monster or not, but if it did, then so be it. She had known from the start that her freedom would come at a price and she had been more than willing to pay the price. If the price of her freedom had cost her her soul, she would have gladly made the transaction. Nothing would stand in her way of gaining her true freedom.

Sakura couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips when the ship came further into sight. Never before had she seen something so monstrous and yet so beautiful in her entire life. If everything worked out, she would be brought in as a member of the crew and be granted the opportunity to travel the world, conquer the sea, find her true calling in life, and, of course, get her revenge on the family that had betrayed her. The moment her thoughts strayed to the people who were supposed to be her family, her smile dropped and was replaced with a scowl of disdain.

As Hidan ran next to the mysterious pink haired woman, he noticed an array of emotions rapidly marring her features. In the span of less than a minute, he had seen her expression go from calm and content, to downright joyful, to barely concealed anger. When he looked over at her and raised a silent eyebrow in question, he received a small smile and a shake of her head, as if telling him not to worry about it. With a shrug of his shoulders, he decided to let it go for now. He wasn't about to start prying into her personal affairs, it wasn't his place, and in reality, he supposed that he didn't really care. He knew that the young woman carried an impressive amount of bitterness in her soul, but he could also tell that deep down, she was really a caring woman. He would not begin to question her about her problems, instead, he would sit back and observe her. Being a naturally curious man, Hidan couldn't help but find the woman interesting.

She had stood up to him, yelled at him, and shattered a glass against a bar and caused the wood to crack with her bare hands in front of him. Then, of course, there were the rumors about her in the surrounding town, claiming that she had to be some sort of escaped circus freak with inhuman strength. The fact that even with the gossip that was going around about her, the villagers were still allowing her into their homes and paying her for her medical services. He supposed that, in this case, need trumped fear and wariness. So far he had not heard anything about the pink haired medic roaming around the villages causing any casualties, but then again, he hadn't been paying very much attention. In the area especially, rumors and gossips were often overly exaggerated and quite far from the truth.

He supposed he would be able to get to know the woman quite well now that she would be traveling with him and the crew. At least, that's what he hoped, she still had to meet with the captain after all. Though he did not hold any doubts that she would be accepted, he had a feeling that being one of only two females on board the ship would be a whole different challenge entirely. But then again, she could crack solid wood counters by merely shattering a glass against it, and according to the rumors, cause earthquakes by merely stomping her foot in irritation.

 _'Maybe she'll be able to hold her own after all. Guess we'll just have to wait and fucking see with this one.'_ , he thought with a small smirk before slowing to a walk as they walked down the docks and towards the great black ship that awaited them.

* * *

Sakura couldn't believe the sight of the ship before her. From a distance, the ship had been a sight to behold, but now that she was standing right in front of it, she couldn't think of anything that could outshine its beauty. The hull of the ship was a glossy black, if she looked hard enough, she was sure she could probably make out her reflection when the sun hit the ship just right. Though it was large in size, she could only imagine that the crew wasn't made of up of very many people. From the stories she had heard about the Akatsuki, they were a crew of less than a dozen and could take out an army by themselves in a single night. How much truth was in those stories was a complete mystery.

Sakura wanted to be the one to solve that mystery.

She raised her head to take in more of the details of the magnificent ship in front of her, taking in as many details as she could. While she could not see the symbol on the sails, as they were tied up until it was time to cast off, she had a feeling that they would be the same black as the ship with a crimson cloud standing proudly in the middle of each of the sails on the ship. She couldn't help but hope that by the end of the day that, she too, would bare the mark of the Akatsuki on her flesh. She was well aware that if she was accepted and made a member of the crew that there would be no turning back. It was a well known fact that becoming a pirate meant you would be one for life.

She would be a member of the Akatsuki until the day she died, if accepted.

And she was fully prepared to make that commitment.

"You going to stand there and gawk at the side of the fucking ship all day or are we going to go talk to the damn Captain?", Hidan sighed, completely failing to understand the awestruck expression on his companions face. It was just a huge hunk of wood after all. What was so damn special about that? Sure, it's size was impressive and it had a lot of power behind it. But unless you knew how to use it, it was just an ordinary piece of wood.

 _'I think my descriptions could use some fucking work. My views on the ship sound more like a dick joke than the description of a fucking boat.'_ , he thought with a small cringe. Sure, he was known as a bit of a pervert, but that didn't mean he wanted to start thinking of the boat he basically lived on as an enormous dick.

 _'Giving a whole new meaning to the term Moby Dick...'_

"I'm ready when you are, Hidan.", Sakura responded with a smirk. She was more than ready. She could do this. She was prepared.

She was scared shitless of being turned away.

 _"Get your shit together, bitch. You've got this. They'd be more crazy than they are rumored to be if they turned away a girl who can heal the deadliest of diseases, cure debilitating ailments, and break fucking mountains with her bare hands. Granted, they don't know any of those things...yet.',_ she internally scolded herself. She squared her shoulders, arranged her face until she felt her face relax into a look of calm, and followed behind Hidan closely as he led her up a ramp and onto the ship.

Once they stood on the deck of the ship, Sakura had to hold back her gasp of surprise and fought to keep her neutral expression on her face. She saw a few of the other crew members attending to certain parts of the ship, a blond was sharpening an array of interesting looking weapons, a red head was inspecting the railings of the ship as if he were checking for even the smallest of imperfections. She saw a large, muscular man with _blue skin_ carrying a barrel on his shoulder. She knew that the crew were going to be interesting people, but not once had she thought that she would see a man whose skin resembled the sky in fucking spring time. The blue skinned man noticed her stare and locked eyes with her before shooting her a toothy smirk. She raised an eyebrow in question but otherwise kept her face blank and turned away to follow after Hidan. She barely withheld a flinch when she heard him yell across the deck.

"Oi, Hidan. Who's the woman? Sacrifice?", Big Blue yelled from his spot on the deck of the ship.

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. Sacrifice? Just what the hell was this shark hybrid talking about? She didn't open her mouth to question Hidan or Big Blue, but chose to listen in when her silver haired companion snapped at the shark man.

"She isn't a fucking sacrifice, fucktard. After the shit I've seen her do, she could probably fucking kill me if she wanted. Or, at least, rip me to shreds with her bare hands. I'm taking her to meet the damn Captain.", Hidan scowled towards the blue skinned man.

"I see, well, I guess we'll hopefully see you around, Pinky.", the man shot back with a toothy smirk.

Sakura didn't even bother to hide her eye roll before turning back to Hidan. With a wave of his hand, they made their way towards the door on deck that led to the Captains Quarters. She watched as Hidan raised a hand and rapt his knuckles against the wooden door in front of them and slid it open when a garbled voice yelled at them to come in.

Sakura was floored when she saw the Captain sitting behind a gigantic oak desk in the back of the room. He. Was. Beautiful!

Even while he saw sitting calmly at his desk, Sakura could tell that he was tall, at least six feet tall. His spiky auburn colored hair, she decided, suited him perfectly. But what really drew her, was his eyes. They were the most interesting thing she had ever seen in her life. The way they were ringed, she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd had more than one iris. From where she was standing, they almost looked like the rings were lazily swirling around, almost as if they were trying to hypnotize anyone who was foolish enough to stare too long. From what she could see, his eyes began as a dark, smokey grey color and subtly got lighter the closer it got to the center of his eye. Truly mesmerizing. She wasn't even going to bother trying to hide her oogling, she had a feeling that, no matter what she did, he would know exactly what she was going.

She tore her gaze away from the Captains intoxicating eyes and couldn't help the small, interested smile that graced her lips when she took in the many piercings that adorned his face. She had seen her fair share of facial and body jewelry in her time as a runaway, but his were by far the most interesting. From where she was standing, she could see at least seven rings in each of his ears, two fang-like studs in his bottom lip, a three different bars that went through the bridge of his nose. She silently wondered if he was hiding more piercing underneath his black cloak, but she didn't doubt that she had more. In the time as a runaway, she had accumulated a few piercings herself, but they were all hidden away from view by her cloak. The one thing she found to be the most interesting about the Captain however, was the fact that he looked so young.

When she had imagined the Captain of the infamous Akatsuki, she had pictured someone at least in their mid-thirties. Not a man who look like he was twenty-five at most. But she wasn't about to argue. Somehow, having a Captain that was only a few years older than her was almost comforting.

"Who is this woman, Hidan?", the Captain asked from his place at his desk, gesturing a hand towards the woman standing next to his crew member.

"This is Sakura, bitch is fucking talented. I offered to bring her here so she could speak to you about joining the damn crew. I can vouch for her talents myself but I'll let her explain herself to you.", the silver haired pirate explained with a shrug.

"Well, Sakura, tell me, why do you wish to join the Akatsuki? You do not look like the kind of woman who would willingly sell her soul to the seas, much less my crew.", the Captain asked, turning his body to regard the young woman in his office. Truth be told, the woman truly was unique if nothing else.

Though the black cloak around her hid her body from view, he could tell that she was not your average woman. He could tell that beneath her cloak, a toned and strong and shapely body was hidden away from sight. He trailed his gaze away from her body and to her face, he could see a small, almost invisible scar below her bottom lip, signalling that she had been in fights in the past. Her emerald green eyes seemed to betray her emotions quite clearly, while he could clearly see bitterness reflecting off of them, he could also see a deep sadness hidden beneath the bitterness in her heart. But more than anything, her pink hair interested him the most. In his time as a pirate had seen many things, but pink hair was a new one on him. He broke out of his silent perusal of her body when she began explaining herself to him in a voice that could only be described as monotone.

"I wish to join the Akatsuki so I can gain true freedom. I ran away from the people who sired and raised me a few months ago after they decided they were going to sell me and the gifts I possess for profit. As if being used as a cash cow in my own home wasn't enough, they decided they wanted to sell me like I was some sort of animal. There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't really see the point in explaining my entire life story to you. My past makes little difference. What I can offer to you and your crew is this; a healing ability that can quite literally heal anything. Disease, blindness, broken bones, anything you can imagine, I can heal it. Coupled with the fact that I'm sure you've heard the rumors about me causing the earthquakes lately, I won't deny that I'm the cause of them.", Sakura explained indifferently with a small shrug.

"You say that you wish to join my crew to gain true freedom and that you can heal any injury we sustain. Is that correct?", the Captain asked slowly, he had to be sure that he was hearing this woman, Sakura, correctly. He would not deny that the small amount of information that she had given him about her past disgusted him, but he wasn't about to pry into her private affairs.

"That is correct. Not only am I able to heal with my power, I can also kill with it. I can shut down an enemies body with a simple touch and a little killing intent.", Sakura nodded in confirmation.

"And how do you cause these earthquakes, exactly?", the Captain asked curiously, leaning forward in his seat slightly, resting his elbows on his desk and resting his chin on his laced fingers. He be lying if he said that he wasn't intrigued by this small slip of woman. She had just said that she had the ability to kill someone with a single touch and did not seem even the least bit bothered by it. He silently wondered if she'd had to use her ability to kill silently before she had escaped from the place she had once called home. If, from what she had minutely described, could even be considered a home. His thoughts strayed back to the small amount of information he now had about her past. Just how much was this woman truly hiding from the world?

"The easiest and less complicated way of explaining it would be that I have inhuman strength. I was not born with it like I was with my gift for healing. My inhuman strength came from experiments I was forced to endure as a child. My parents, if you could even consider them that, insisted that scientists use me as a toy for their experiments. I have no idea what was injected into me at the time, but my enhanced physical strength was the outcome.", Sakura explained with another shrug. She had no idea why the Captain was asking her all these questions but she wasn't going to start questioning it. This could be her only chance to speak with him and she wasn't about to ruin in my refusing to give him answers.

"Your parents used you as a source of fucking income and then let some freaky doctors basically fucking dissect you? That's fucking sick.", Hidan seethed. He was a man with a steel will and it was nearly impossible to disgust him. But after hearing just a small amount about the pink haired woman's story, he was ready to lose his composure and go on a rage filled rampage.

"It was sick, and if I had not left, I would have been sold and the experiments on my body would have continued. I'm sure you can see why I left now. Calm down, Hidan, I've left that life and have no intention of ever returning to that retched place unless it is to take my revenge on those people.", Sakura replied calmly, raising a hand to rub the angry pirates shoulder in a soothing manner. She hadn't expected him to instantly relax under his touch, and by the look on the Captains face, he was just as surprised as she was.

 _'Apparently Hidan is a very volatile person and isn't easily calmed. I'll have to remember that.',_ she absently thought, keeping her hand on her shoulder calmly for good measure. If her presence and touch was enough to calm the man, she would do what she could to keep him that way.

"Well, it certainly seems that you hold potential and great promise. Coupled with the assets to possess, I would have to say that you would be the perfect addition to my crew. From this day forth you shall be the Akatsuki's acting medic and should the time come, I expect you to fight along side us.", the Captain said smoothly, his eyes still shining with a small amount of amazement. Never before had he seen someone, especially someone who could be considered a complete stranger, calm the most violent person on his ship's temper with a single touch. She would be a great asset indeed.

"I humbly thank you for this opportunity, Captain.", Sakura replied calmly with a small bow.

"Pein, if you please. While the other's refer to me as Captain when they are not on the ship, I would prefer it if we stuck to a first name basis while on the ship.", Pein said with the smallest of smiles.

"If that is what you would prefer, Pein.", she nodded, turning her attention back to Hidan. He seemed to be completely calm again and she let out a small sigh of relief. She removed her hand from his shoulder and waited for her Captain to dismiss her.

"Hidan will take you to meet Sasori so you may receive your tattoo. With that symbol on your body, you will forever be branded as a member of this crew. Once that ink is beneath your skin, there will be no quitting. There will be no running. The only way for you to retire is if you were to die.", Pein explained, when Sakura nodded in understanding, he continued. "Once you have received your tattoo, you will be shown to the room that will serve as the infirmary. Once you have seen where you will be working, Hidan will show you to your quarters and explain the rest of the rules to you. Since you brought her here, Hidan, she will be your responsibility and you will be the one to show her the ropes. Do not disappoint me."

"Yeah, yeah, Pein. I know the drill. I'll show her around the fucking ship and take her to meet the others. I'll get her all settled in before finishing the rest of my shit so we can set out the day after tomorrow.", Hidan dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"Very well.", Pein replied before waving his hand to dismiss the to members of his crew.

Just as Sakura and Hidan were about to leave Pein's office, he called Sakura's name. When she turned her head to glance back at her Captain, she didn't even bother hiding the smile that graced her lips.

"Welcome to the Akatsuki, Sakura, and welcome home."

If Sakura had been a weaker woman, she probably would have shed a tear or two due to the small amount of happiness that she felt. It had been a long time since she had felt such an emotion. Since the age of eleven, she could not recall a time where she had ever felt happy or content.

She never knew that eight simple words could make such a difference in her.

Home, she was finally home.

* * *

 **Whoop! Sakura is officially an Akatsuki pirate!**

 **Sakura's Monstrous strength has been partially explained!**

 **A few hints towards the future revealed!**

 **Why is Hidan such a volatile and ill tempered man?! And why is Captain Pein so surprised that Sakura is able to calm him so easily?!**

 **So many questions that need answers and more answers are to come!**

 **Guess you'll just have to stick around and find out what happens next, yeah?!**

 **Again, I hope you enjoyed, and if you did, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	3. Encounters

**Wow! I got some really good feedback from the second chapter and could not wait to post this one! And it's extra long for your pleasure! Thank you so much for your input and positive feedback on this story! It means a lot, really! Do not expect all the chapters to be over 8000 words. I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to make the chapter this long! Lots of info and shit ahead! Prepare to raise anchor!**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters! Just the plot to this monster of a story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow! I would love to continue to hear your thoughts on the story!**

 **This story is seriously growing a life of its own and I am LOVING it!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper!**

* * *

Previously;

 _"Hidan will take you to meet Sasori so you may receive your tattoo. With that symbol on your body, you will forever be branded as a member of this crew. Once that ink is beneath your skin, there will be no quitting. There will be no running. The only way for you to retire is if you were to die.", Pein explained, when Sakura nodded in understanding, he continued. "Once you have received your tattoo, you will be shown to the room that will serve as the infirmary. Once you have seen where you will be working, Hidan will show you to your quarters and explain the rest of the rules to you. Since you brought her here, Hidan, she will be your responsibility and you will be the one to show her the ropes. Do not disappoint me."_

 _"Yeah, yeah, Pein. I know the drill. I'll show her around the fucking ship and take her to meet the others. I'll get her all settled in before finishing the rest of my shit so we can set out the day after tomorrow.", Hidan dismissed with a wave of his hand._

 _"Very well.", Pein replied before waving his hand to dismiss the to members of his crew._

 _Just as Sakura and Hidan were about to leave Pein's office, he called Sakura's name. When she turned her head to glance back at her Captain, she didn't even bother hiding the smile that graced her lips._

 _"Welcome to the Akatsuki, Sakura, and welcome home."_

 _If Sakura had been a weaker woman, she probably would have shed a tear or two due to the small amount of happiness that she felt. It had been a long time since she had felt such an emotion. Since the age of eleven, she could not recall a time where she had ever felt happy or content._

 _She never knew that eight simple words could make such a difference in her._

 _Home, she was finally home._

* * *

The moment Hidan and Sakura stepped out of Pein's office, they both let out a small sigh of relief. Her meeting with him had gone a lot better than either of them had expected. Truth be told, Sakura was completely shocked that she had been able to keep her composure when the Captain had questioned her about her motives and she'd had to reveal a small amount of the torment that she had endured at a young age. After Hidan's little freak out, she was even beginning to see him in a new light. When she had met him at the bar, she had been completely convinced that he was nothing more than a loud mouth with a foul mouth.

Clearly she had been completely wrong. The moment he had snapped at her story, Sakura began to immediately see the silver haired pirate in a new light. Under crass behavior, she could see a man who had been through his own forms of torment in his life. At that moment, she could see so much more, but what his story entailed, she could only speculate. She still could not wrap her head around the fact that she had been able to clam his rage in a single touch. She wanted to question him about it, but she did not feel that it was her place to pry into his personal business. If he wanted to explain himself to her later, she would surely welcome it. If he decided to leave it alone and keep her in the dark about it, she would shrug it off and continue onward.

"I think I've said this before, but this time you're staring at me, rather than the boat. You going to stand there all day gawking at me or are we going to go get you your tattoo?", Hidan asked with an amused smirk, he could tell that she had been curious about his reaction back in the Captain's office, but like her, he wasn't about to spill his life story to anyone. Maybe he would tell her someday, but for now, some things were best left in the dark.

"I was lost in my own thoughts, so sorry for gawking at you. If you have an issue with my stare, maybe you could direct me toward someone who would appreciate a good oogling?", Sakura threw back sarcastically. She raised an eyebrow in question when she saw his bottom lip out in a small pout.

 _'Such a child.'_ , she thought with a small chuckle.

"Careful what you say, Pinky. You're only one of two women on this ship and Konan is off limits. Some of the others might take that as a fucking invitation to feel you up.", Hidan warned halfheartedly. He knew for a fact that the girl could take care of a wandering hand or two, but still, part of him didn't like the thought of his comrades groping at the new girl. He was sure that a broken bone or two would get the message across that she wasn't some floozy for them to take their desires out on. He was confident that she would take care of the problem herself, if one should ever arise.

"Thanks for the warning, but I can take care of myself. Now, where the hell is this Sasori dude that's supposed to give me a tattoo?", Sakura asked, changing the subject entirely. While she appreciated him looking out for her, she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But for now, she just wanted to get her damn tattoo and go check out the room she would be using to treat the rest of the crew from now on. While she had been a traveling medic, she had never had such a luxury. Normally, she just carried the small amount of supplies that she had in the inner pockets of her cloak, so having an entire room to use was going to take some getting used to.

"Sasori was that red headed bastard that you saw fussing over the railings earlier. He's basically the guy who takes care of most of the repairs that the ship. Guy is a magician when it comes to working with any kind of wood. From what I know, he used to be a pretty talented puppeteer before he ran off and became a pirate. Other than that, I don't know much about the guy, he isn't much of a talker.", Hidan explained with a shrugged before grabbing her arm and steering her in the direction of the red head who was currently examining the floor boards of the ship.

When Hidan pulled her to a halt in front of a red headed man that could not be more than a couple years older than her, she fought back the small jump of surprise when she felt a pale hand reach beneath her cloak, latch around her ankle, and gently pull her down to the ground next to him. Once she was comfortable on the wooden floor, she took his appearance. Shaggy red hair that reminded her, scarily enough, of fresh blood. Two curious mocha colored eyes bore into her own jade colored ones. He was wearing a pair of black leather trousers that were similar to the ones Hidan was wearing, the only difference being the red scorpion that was stitched into the the left thigh. He was shirtless, but Sakura couldn't really blame him in this heat.

In truth, if she wasn't surrounded by men, she probably would have discarded her black cloak ages ago.

Her eyes zeroed in on the crimson cloud that was tattooed right above his heart. She had no idea if the placement held any significance, but it wasn't her place to ask such a thing.

"And just who are you, doll?", Sasori asked calmly.

If Sakura were a lessor woman, she probably would have blushed at the silky smoothness of his voice. Instead, however, she just let out a small sigh and explained herself.

"My name is Sakura, I'm the crew's new medic. The Captain told me to talk to you about getting my tattoo.", Sakura explained simply with a small shrug.

"I see, well, you may call me Sasori. I take care of all the wood work here on the ship, as well as giving all of the new recruits their marks. I can give you yours tonight once I have finished my work up here on the deck. Is that acceptable?", the red head asked kindly, raising his eyebrow in question.

"That should be fine, I plan on spending most of the evening getting the infirmary set up. Whenever you find the time to come give me my mark, that is where I will be.", Sakura replied with a small smile before she hoisted herself back into a standing position next to Hidan. Somehow, it shocked her that the silver haired pirate hadn't said a word the entire time she was talking to Sasori. From what she had gathered in the few short hours that she had known him was that he was outspoken and a bit of a loud mouth.

"I will come find you once I am finished. While you wait for me, figure out where you would like your mark.", Sasori requested softly before turning his attention back to his work, not even watching to make sure she accepted his request.

"If you're done here, I'll show you where you'll be getting up the damn infirmary. I gotta get my shit done on deck or Pein is going to chew me a new asshole. I'll show you where your quarters are on the way. Luckily for you, the room is actually furnished so you don't have to wait until we get our next payment to get a fucking bed to sleep in.", Hidan explained with a sigh as he led her to the door that led them below the deck. "Although, if you didn't have one, you're always welcome to share mine.", he added as an after thought.

Sakura barely resisted the sudden urge to smack Hidan upside the head, instead deciding to ignore his attempt at flirting with her. With a small sigh, she gestured for him to lead the way to the rooms that she would be occupying. She saw the silverettes lip form a small pout at her dismissal and she let out a small snort of mild amusement. She heard him grumble something under his breath and decided to ignore him as she followed him down the narrow hallway below deck. He pointed out her room as they passed it, third door on the right. Simple enough to remember. He led her past a couple more doors before he pushed open another door to reveal the room that would now serve as the infirmary.

She looked at the room in silent amazement. While the room wasn't huge, it wasn't small either. It could fit about three patients comfortably, but she could probably fit a couple more people in it if she absolutely had to in the future. Her well trained eyes scanned over a few of the shelves on the walls, noticing that there were quite a few vials of fluids, an impressive amount of bandages, and much, much more lining the shelves. It seemed that these pirates at least knew how to keep a medical room stocked, if nothing else.

"You look like a kid in a fucking sweets shop.", Hidan snorted from beside her.

"I've always carried my supplies around in my cloak, I've never actually had a real room to work out of before. Back at my family's home, I was just summoned from my room and forced to heal people from random beds, couches, and even tables. Having an actual room to work out of is actually kind of a relief. Plus, I don't have to go back into that shitty village to pilfer supplies off of those brick-brained merchants.", she explained with a shrug before stepping into the room to get a better look.

"Pilfer, huh? Never would have taken you for a petty thief, Pinky.", he snorted as he watched her examine one of the vials on the shelf, deciding that it would be wise not to point out that she had just given him another peak into her childhood. He couldn't tell if she was doing it without realizing it or if she was actually starting to trust him a little.

"Girl has to eat, right? The jobs I took didn't always completely pay for a room at an inn plus my next meal. Stealing from idiots isn't the worst thing I've ever done. The way I look at it is if you can't keep a sharp eye on your product, you're just asking to get stolen from.", she quipped back with a slight smirk. She found that the banter with Hidan was getting more and more easy as she spent time with him. She knew that he had to return to his duties once he was done with her, but that didn't stop her from silently enjoying his company for the time being.

She was a strong, independent woman who could handle her own, but that didn't mean that deep down, she was lonely beyond comprehension.

"I suppose I can't disagree with that fucking point. I'll leave you to get settled in. Sasori should be back at some point tonight to give you your mark. Oh, and just one thing. Try to loosen up a bit, we're your fucking family now. We may be a bunch of wanted men, but we're as human as everybody else. Just different. Quit worrying that someone is going to fucking leave you in the dust now that you're here. You heard Pein, once you're here, it's a life commitment. You aren't going anywhere and neither are we.", Hidan ordered sternly before he turned on his heel and shut the door behind him, leaving Sakura completely alone in her newly acquired infirmary.

* * *

When the door clicked shut behind Hidan, Sakura was left in shock. Never before had she heard such a speech in her life. Never before had someone actually tried to comfort her. For the first time in the better part of eleven years, Sakura actually felt like she belonged. Like she was accepted.

She had wanted nothing more than to believe his words.

She didn't know a whole lot about the mysterious silver haired pirate, but from what she could tell, the man was not a liar. What he had told her was true. But even then, it was still hard for her to truly believe that they would not want to throw her away once her usefulness had run out and they no longer had any use for her.

She had been chewed up, spit out, stomped on, thrown out, stripped down, and beat down before she had even run away. So how could he truly expect her to accept his words readily. She felt like she had to prove her usefulness and earn her place within the crew before she could even consider believing his words completely.

"But if I want to do that, I need to get this place set up so I can easily treat their wounds when the time comes.", she mumbled to herself.

She shed her cloak and tossed it onto one of the cots in the room before she set to work. She made sure to examine every vial and bottle stored on the shelves, mentally taking inventory of what she had to use at her disposal. Another part of her mind was making a list of things that she would need to get her hands on before her collection of remedies and curatives would be sufficient. Once she was done taking her inventory, she would have to make a trip up to Pein's office and inform him of the things she needed to complete her supply.

She was so caught up in her perusing through her stocks that she didn't even hear the door to the infirmary being pushed open. She didn't feel the eyes traveling up and down her body in silent appreciation. She was completely oblivious to the presence behind her.

"I thought I sensed another person's presence in here, just who are you?", a voice asked smoothly.

The newcomer arched an eyebrow in amusement when he saw her jump slightly when the silence was broken. The woman whirled around and acted purely on instinct and lunged at him with a fist cocked back. The man held a hand up to block her blow and flinched visibly when he felt the bones in his hands crack and break under the impact of her blow. When he grunted in pain, she seemed to snap out of her daze and regarded him with an almost bored expression.

"And just who the fuck are you and why are you sneaking up on me in my infirmary?", Sakura snapped with annoyance, not even taking notice of the fact that she had just shattered the bones in the strangers hand. She lifted her head to glare at him and felt her breath stutter lightly when she saw the black markings in his eyes swirling almost lazily as he regarded her. His midnight black hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and his face was smooth despite his small grimace of pain.

"My name is Itachi, I heard that we had a new member of the crew and I became curious. My apologizes for startling you, I did not expect you to attack me.", the man, Itachi, explained with a look of indifference.

"I won't apologize for striking you, as a pirate, you should know better than anyone not to sneak up on people. Especially when they are off in their own worlds. You never know what could happen.", Sakura scolded before she held out a hand to him. "I'll fix your hand now, if you'd like. Looks like I did quite a number on it."

"You are the new medic that Hidan spoke of?", Itachi asked while he held out the damaged hand to her.

"Indeed. My name is Sakura, from now on I will be serving as you and the rest of the crew's medic. If you have an illness, injury, or anything really, I can heal it.", she confirmed with a nod before gently taking hold of the raven's wrist. She held it steady and lifted her other hand and placed it gently on the back of his hand before allowing her gift to activate. Her hand glowed a mint green color and she carefully began to mend the bones she had shattered with her fist. Once that bones were mended and no longer inflamed, she let his wrist drop from her grasp and returned her hands to her side.

Itachi watched as she healed his hand with well hidden awe. Never before in his life had he seen something quite like it. When she had offered to patch him up, he had expected her to set the bones and wrap it in bandages before sending him on his way. Never before had he expected that she or anyone else would be able to heal broken bones with nothing more than a gentle touch and some concentration. Sure, he had seen some real oddities in his time with the Akatsuki, but this one was a new one on him.

"You do not heal traditionally, what is it you just did?", he asked, no, demanded. He wanted answers and he was going to get them. If what she was saying was true, there was a chance that she could help him with more than just a broken hand. It almost seemed too good to be true, but he had to know for sure before he got his hopes up and admitted his true problem and reason for coming to the infirmary.

"It's quite hard to explain but I use my body's natural energy and convert it into an energy that can be used to heal or kill, depending on the situation I find myself in. That is all you need to know for now, because in all honesty, it's none of your damn business how I do it. As long as you are healed, I don't see any reason to go into detail. Now, tell me, what was the real reason you came here. I'm sure you have other things you should be doing instead of bugging the new medic.", Sakura demanded. If he was going to demand answers from her, she was going to do the same damn thing and get some answers of her own. If anything, she had found out that word travels fast on the ship. She'd have to remember that for the future.

"You are correct, there was another reason that I came here. But I will discuss it with you at a later time once you have settled in. Now that I know that the medical knowledge you possess is indeed accurate, I may require your help at a later date. For now, I will leave you to your business. It was a pleasure to meet you, Sakura.", Itachi replied before exiting the room.

"Oi, Itachi, hold up a second.", Sakura called out just before he left the room, when he tilted his head to indicate that he was listening, she continued. "Do not ruin the work I just did on your hand. No strenuous activity with it for at least three days. That means no heavy lifting."

"As you wish, Sakura.", he nodded before taking his leave for real this time.

Once the door closed and she was sure that he was gone, Sakura slid down the wall and dropped herself to the ground with a huff.

"Been a member for less than a day and I already assault somebody. But then again, he did sneak up on me.", she grumbled, deciding that she had done enough inventory. She wanted nothing more than to make her way to her room and fall asleep but she had told Sasori that she would be here when he came to find her. With a small sigh, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She laid her head on her knees and allowed her mind to wander until she fell into a restless slumber.

* * *

 _Her thirteen year old legs carried her as quickly as they could as she raced down the corridors of her family's estate. She didn't want to be used like this anymore. She couldn't stand it anymore. She didn't want to heal these shady people anymore. She didn't want to be abused anymore._

 _She wanted the torment to end._

 _She just wanted to be free. She just wanted to feel the wind in her face, the smell of nature to fill her nose. She wondered what it was like to truly be free. Free of expectations. Free from the orders. Free from the tyrant that was supposed to be her father._

 _As she ran down the long, winding hallways, she tried to picture what her life would have been like if she hadn't been born with her gifts._

 _Would her mother and father actually look at her if she wasn't different? Before her gift had emerged, they had been a happy family._

 _Had that all been a facade? Had they ever truly loved her? Did they regret allowing her to come into the world? Had anything they had ever said to her ever held a shred of truth?_

 _She doubted it. Even at thirteen years old, she knew that the looks her parent's had given her as a child had not held the adoration and love that normal parents looked at their children with._

 _She broke out of her thoughts and turned a corner sharply as she heard the pounding of footsteps catching up with her. She had to escape, she had to get away, she didn't want to do this anymore!_

 _She knew that she would be punished severely if she was caught but she didn't care. She would take the physical pain of being punished if it meant that she would not be forced to use her gifts for her mother and father's benefit._

 _Oh, who was she kidding, she would be punished and then forced to do whatever her father ordered her to do._

 _She could control her gift perfectly, but she could not disobey orders forever. If she disobeyed for too long, she would be sent to_ them _again and punished far worse than her father's fists ever could. Just thinking about it made bile raise in her throat and made her want to vomit. No matter how much she scrubbed her skin raw, she still felt dirty. No matter how many times she forced herself to empty the contents of her stomach, she still felt like her body was tainted. There really was no escape from this hell._

 _She would be stuck here until the day she was either sold for a profit or the day she died. Part of her couldn't help but hope that it would be the latter._

 _She ducked into a room and held underneath a table, hoping that her father would not find her and pass the room without a second thought._

 _But of course, she never got that lucky. He always found her. She would never be able to hide from him. She was his and he would do with her whatever he pleased._

 _She couldn't help but think that he enjoyed it when she ran away and hid from him. Maybe something about the chase gave him some sick form of satisfaction._

 _"I know you're in here, bitch"_

 _She held her breath, hoping that he would just leave her alone._

 _"Come, come now. You're just making this worse for yourself in the end, bitch. Come out and face your punishment. You are costing me money and I am quite displeased with this fact."_

 _The sound of a chair crashing and shattering against a wall could be heard. She could not hold back her whimper of fear and her flinch._

 _She had been found._

 _She saw a hand reach underneath the table she was hiding under and felt it grab roughly on her hair before dragging her out._

 _She had been found. There truly was no escape. She was going to die here one day. But she refused to cry, she would face her fate head on and with as much pride as her tiny body could muster._

 _The last thing she saw was a second fist coming straight for her face before everything went black._

* * *

Sakura woke with a start and cringed when her eyes were assaulted by the natural light in the room. Her mind was swimming from the nightmare. She had thought that she was done dreaming about her childhood. But it seemed that she had been wrong. Oh so very wrong. She wanted nothing more than to curl into herself and disappear from the world, but she knew that that was no longer an option. She had to face her past and look towards the future.

"That was some nasty nightmare you were having, doll. You kept whimpering and refused to wake up.", came Sasori's voice.

Sakura flinched at his voice and turned her head only to find him sitting next to her, his position the same as hers. Just how long had she been asleep? And how long had he been sitting next to her? Normally, she would wake up right away if someone entered a room while she was sleeping. So what made the red head next to her so different?

It was all way too confusing.

"How long have you been here? I'm sorry if you've been waiting for awhile, I didn't mean to fall asleep for so long.", she apologized softly, resting her chin on her folded arms once again.

"I've been trying to wake you up for about thirty minutes. Nothing I was doing was working so I was forced to wait for you to wake you up on your own. You talk in your sleep, by the way. Though I could not make out a single word you were saying.", Sasori explained with a shrug. Normally, he was the most impatient man in the world. He had no idea what had compelled him to sit and wait for her to wake up. Normally, he would have rudely woken her up, but something had stopped him from doing so. He had noticed during their first encounter that she was a broken, heartbroken woman that held a lot of bitterness in her heart. His instincts told him that her nightmare was more than likely something that she would not willingly speak to him about anytime soon.

"I'm sorry that you had to wait so long. I thought I was done having nightmares about the past, but it seems that I was very, very wrong. Now that you're here, did you want to do my tattoo, or did you want to do it tomorrow morning. I'm in no hurry and you look exhausted.", she offered tiredly. Even though she had just woken up, she felt more tired than she had before. Her nightmares always seemed to take more out of her than anything. She knew that she probably would not be sleeping tonight but she wasn't about to deny one of her new comrades his right to sleep just so he could brand her skin.

"I will do it now if you have decided where you wish to have it.", Sasori replied calmly, deciding not to make a comment about her nightmares. He himself suffered from horrific nightmares of his own childhood so he could relate to how she was feeling. If she was anything like him, he knew that if he were to leave her alone now, that there was a possibility that she could have a nervous breakdown and possibly harm herself without thinking. He had heard about her encounter with Itachi and knew that if she was not in the right mind, she could easily do worse to herself without thinking about it.

"I was thinking of putting it on my left hip bone if it isn't too much trouble.", she replied easily. She hadn't actually thought about it at all. Her mind had been too occupied in taking inventory and recovering from her little episode with Itachi. Before she had escaped and run away, she had always wanted a tattoo on her hip, so why not have her cloud brand put there?

"That is acceptable, follow me to my room. All of my equipment is in there and I would prefer not to waste time by hauling it in here.", he nodded before lifting himself off the floor and extending a hand out to her. Once she grasped his hand, he hauled her to her feet and led her out of the room and down the hall towards his room.

* * *

The first thing Sakura noticed when she entered Sasori's room that it was covered in various appendages that no doubt belonged to puppet or something of the sort. She didn't even think twice about seeing them, everybody had their hobbies after all. Plus, she had been told by Hidan that the red head used to be quite the puppeteer. Her eyes traveled over to a small table pushed into one of the corners of the room. Needles and ink were carefully placed on it's surface, the needles were being held by tight strips of leather to prevent them from rolling off the table and onto the ground.

 _'So he's the silent but smart type, thank the Fates I'm not letting an idiot brand me.'_

"You said you wished to have it on your left hip bone, correct?", he asked, when she nodded, he pointed towards his bed on the opposite side of the room from the table. "Lay down on the bed and move your shorts down enough for me to have easier access to your hip."

With a small nod, Sakura made her way over to his bed and laid down calmly, shimmying her shorts down a fraction so he had room to work as she went. She was lucky that she was completely comfortable with her body or else this would have been an awkward situation. Noticing that her hip was facing the wall rather than the edge of the bed, she sat up and grabbed one of the pillows on the bed and moved in to the foot of the bed so her left side would be easier to reach and made herself comfortable on the blue cotton sheets. She waited patiently for him to gather everything her would need. She folded her arms behind her head and stared blankly up at the ceiling, deciding to just let him prepare and work in peace.

When she heard a couple of small bottles and needles being placed on the small bedside table next to her, she glanced at Sasori from the corner of her eye. She took his calm and impassive face as a good sign and reminded herself that he wasn't a complete idiot and that he wouldn't screw up her mark. She silently watched him pick up one of the needles before he drenched it in alcohol to kill any bacteria that could have been on it.

"You are going to feel a lot of poking and dragging across your skin. Since it is going on your hip bone, it will hurt a little bit more than usual. Do try not to squirm, lest I mess up your brand.", Sasori instructed calmly.

When he saw the pink haired woman on his bed nod, he got to work. He rested one hand on her thigh to keep her steady and tried to keep his mind away from the fact that underneath the fishnets she wore on her thighs were smooth to the touch. He gave her a silent look to ask if she was ready and received a small nod in return. And so, he began the process.

Sasori was slightly impressed when she didn't flinch as he began to drag the needle over her skin, pushing the black ink underneath her skin with every expert stroke of his wrist. Normally, the people he tattooed would squirm with discomfort and he would be forced to cease his actions. But with her, she just laid there silently and allowed him to work. Once the black outline of the cloud was complete, he let go of her for a moment to switch out his needle for another one laced with the red ink he would need for the shading. With the needle in hand, he grasped her thigh once again and got to work, pushing the needle beneath her skin and allowing the ink to permanently stain her skin. Once the cloud was proudly displayed on her skin, he grabbed a small cloth from the bedside table and poured a small amount of alcohol on it before gently rubbing it over the brand, wiping away the small drops of blood and excess ink from her skin. He let go of her thigh and used the rag to wipe the small traces of ink from his fingers before tossing it back on the table beside him.

"It will be tender for about seven days. I am surprised that you did not move once during the process. Usually, people squirm and make my job difficult.", Sasori explained with the bare traces of a smirk.

"There are worse things in life than being poked with a needle. Not like it isn't the first time I've had them in my body.", she shrugged calmly, gesturing to the anchor charm dangling from her naval.

"True indeed. Now, I would suggest returning to your quarters and getting some sleep. There is a lot to do if we want to set out on time.", he suggested as he collected the small bottles and needles from his bedside table and went go put them back in their original spots.

"Sounds good to me. Do you think Pein would be alright with me going into the village tomorrow? There are a few things that I need to get for the infirmary.", Sakura asked as she stretched out her limbs before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and placing the pillow back in its original place.

"I do not think that will be a problem. He will probably send someone with you but that's about it.", came Sasori's reply from across the room.

"I can live with that. Thank you, Sasori, and goodnight.", Sakura nodded before exiting the room and heading towards her own.

* * *

The moment Sakura entered her room, she came to an annoying realization, she had never grabbed her pack from the inn she had been staying in prior to meeting Hidan. She had none of her extra clothes, including her night clothes. With a small groan of frustration, she threw morality and decency to the sharks and began to strip out of her clothes. She removed her boots, fishnets, and shorts. She tossed her discarded clothes on the small chest at the foot on her bed and slid her leather tunic off, leaving her clad in only her breast wrappings and panties, a thin scrap of black lace that left little to the imagination. She tosses the tunic into the pile of her other discarded clothes and flopped onto her bed.

As long as nobody decided to barge into her room unannounced, everything would be fine. She sat up for a moment and pulled the ties out of her hair and running her fingers through it for a moment before laying back down. She shimmied her body underneath the soft, black sheets and allowed her mind to wander. She let her mind wander towards to future and what it would be holding for her. She smiled softly and felt her eyes begin to get heavy. She was surprised to say the least, she hadn't expected to actually be able to fall back asleep after her nightmare in the infirmary.

She could only hope that she would not have another one and accidentally wake up whoever slept in the rooms next to her. She let out a small sigh and allowed her eyes to close and her mind drifted into the abyss of sleep.

* * *

Sakura had no idea how long she had been asleep before the sound of her door being thrown open and it slamming against the wall roused her from her slumber. She shot out of her bed like a bullet and charged towards the intruder, slamming their body against the wall opposite from her door in the hallway, her eyes blazing with blood lust.

"Who the fuck are you and why are you sneaking into my room in the middle of the night?", she seethed, tightening her grip slightly around the mans throat.

"Cousin Itachi told Tobi to come get the pretty new medic! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi came to grab the medic! Deidara fell off of one of the hangy things on the deck and hurt himself real bad! Please don't hurt Tobi!", the man named Tobi wailed, wiggling in her grip.

"Knock next time, I tend to react purely on instinct when I'm woken up like that.", Sakura snapped before dropping the male and not giving him a second glance before booking it towards the infirmary down the hall.

 _'Not even here a full fucking day and someone already got hurt! Clumsy ass pirates and they're shitty sense of safety!'_

When she reached the infirmary, she took in the sight of the blonde she had seen before she had met with Pein laying in heap on one of the medical cot in the room. His blonde hair was down from its topknot and knotted with clotted blood. She turned to the other figure in the room and found it to be the blue skinned man she had seen earlier.

"Explain to me what happened and if you mention anything about me being in my underwear, you'll be joining him on a cot.", Sakura ordered sharply as she made her way over to the cot the blond, Deidara, was on.

"He was making sure that all of the sails were in perfect shape and he miss stepped. He slipped and fell off of the rafter he was balancing on and hit his head on my deck.", Big Blue explained, never once removing his gaze from the half naked medic currently bending over Deidara. He knew that she would have no problems with putting him on a cot next to the blonde and chose to keep his appreciation of her body to himself.

With a small nod, Sakura set to work examining the blond on the table. She sat him up slightly and maneuvered herself so she was sitting behind him before placing her head in her lap. She used skilled fingers to part his hair gently, untangling the bloody strands as she searched for the wound on his head. Head wounds always bled profusely and until she found it, she had no idea just how bad the injury was. She felt the man in her lap flinch unconsciously when the tips of her fingers grazed a four inch gash on the side of his head. She winced sympathetically when she took in the sight of the wound.

"Oi, Blue, grab me the tweezers that's on the shelf behind you. I have to get the splinters out of the wound before I can close the wound.", she ordered, not even looking up from the wound, she just held out a small hand expectantly.

"Name's Kisame, and here.", the man, Kisame, replied as he handed her the small metal device. He watched her work methodically as she pulled splinter after splinter out of the wound on his head. When she set the small piece of metal aside, his eyes widened when he saw her hand start the glow and watched curiously as she held her hand lightly to the wound.

Sakura knew that Kisame was watching her, whether it was out of mistrust or interest was beyond her. She easily closed to wound on Deidara's skull and made sure to flush any harmful bacteria in his system before removing her hand from him. She removed her gaze from the blonde and turned her head to regard the blue skinned man that was eyeing her curiously.

"Something I can help you with, Kisame?", she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That was some of the weirdest shit I have ever seen. How the hell did you do that?", Kisame asked, his own eyebrow raised in question.

"It's a long story and I'm too tired and naked to explain it right now. Maybe another time. I'm Sakura, by the way. And if you ever send Tobi to wake me up again, I'll annihilate you. Send someone who actually knows how to knock on a door.", Sakura scolded with a groan.

"I'll keep that in mind, what'd you do to him when you woke up? I heard a crash and a slam.", he chuckled.

"I may have attacked him and pinned him to a wall by his throat.", she replied with a small shrug. She removed her gaze from Kisame when she heard Deidara moan from her lap and start to stir.

"The fuck happened, yeah?", the blond moaned pitifully.

"You fell, dimwit. You're lucky we've got a new medic who knows what the hell she's doing or you'd probably be a vegetable.", Kisame explained with a shrug.

Deidara frowned when he felt his pillow shift from below him. He turned his head and was greeted with the sight of a creamy white thigh in his face. He lifted his gaze and his blue eyes met green. He let out a startled yelp when he realized he was not only laying on a woman's lap, but a cute, half naked woman's lap.

"Welcome back to the world of the living. You sure know how to excite a girl right away in the morning.", she drawled sarcastically with an eye roll.

"Who the hell are you, yeah? Never seen you before.", Deidara asked with a pout but made no move to remove himself from her lap.

"Sakura, the new medic.", she explained simply. "You can get off me now, you know. You kind of bled on my legs"

"Er, sorry about that yeah.", he winced before slowly sitting up with her assistance.

"Damn, Deidara. She's been here less than a day and you're already getting lap privileges. I gotta say, I'm kind jealous.", Kisame chuckled while sending the blond a toothy smirk.

"Kisame, have you forgotten that I'm still here and have no qualms with putting you on a cot and refusing to heal you.", Sakura asked calmly, an evil glint shining in her eyes.

Kisame visibly paled. "Yes, ma'am."

"Whipped, Fishy.", Deidara snickered, wincing when he moved his head too quickly.

"You, Blondie, go to bed and don't fall off anything for awhile. Kraken-kun, go find something to do. I'm going to go get dressed and go to the damn village for supplies." Sakura ordered before removing herself from the cot and making her way out of the infirmary.

"Blondie...?", Deidara muttered, softly stroking his blond hair soothingly.

"Kraken-kun...?", Kisame pouted, prodding the gills on his cheeks absently.

"She's kind of interesting, yeah."

"Agreed. Now go to bed, Blondie."

"Shut up, Kracken-kun."

"Want another head wound?"

"Going to bed now!", Deidara yelped as he dashed out of the room and towards his bedroom.

* * *

 **Holy Kraken on a cracker this was way longer than I had even imagined that it would be. Almost 8000 goddamn words! That's a first for me, to be honest. Usually chapters end up being like 4000 words, 5000 at most. But ever 8000. Lots of stuff going on!**

 **Hidan told her that she would never be abandoned again!**

 **Sakura's got her Akatsuki brand!**

 **Vivid nightmares all around! Gotta love little peaks into the past!**

 **Kisame is now a Kraken-Kun! HA**

 **Deidara's an awkward klutz.**

 **Sasori is interested in the aloof pink haired pirate!**

 **Itachi got his ass handed to him by a tiny woman!**

 **Tobi is always a good boy!**

 **Anyway! More fun to come! You'll just have to stick around and find out what happens next!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	4. Let Me Take Your Demons

**Okay, so you know how I said don't expect another long ass chapter? Well, I lied. This chapter ended up a lot longer than I was intending, but who is going to have a problem with that? Seriously. It's like a damn blessing when this type of thing happens.**

 **Lots of stuff going on in this chapter! Hope it was worth the wait! I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to review this story! And I especially want to thank my lovely muse Orangana for once again giving me a few more ideas for the story! She was the one who got my ass into gear about getting this chapter written and posted! So, be sure to thank her! She's pretty awesome.**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper!**

* * *

 _Previously;_

 _"Kisame, have you forgotten that I'm still here and have no qualms with putting you on a cot and refusing to heal you.", Sakura asked calmly, an evil glint shining in her eyes._

 _Kisame visibly paled. "Yes, ma'am."_

 _"Whipped, Fishy.", Deidara snickered, wincing when he moved his head too quickly._

 _"You, Blondie, go to bed and don't fall off anything for awhile. Kraken-kun, go find something to do. I'm going to go get dressed and go to the damn village for supplies." Sakura ordered before removing herself from the cot and making her way out of the infirmary._

 _"Blondie...?", Deidara muttered, softly stroking his blond hair soothingly._

 _"Kraken-kun...?", Kisame pouted, prodding the gills on his cheeks absently._

 _"She's kind of interesting, yeah."_

 _"Agreed. Now go to bed, Blondie."_

 _"Shut up, Kracken-kun."_

 _"Want another head wound?"_

 _"Going to bed now!", Deidara yelped as he dashed out of the room and towards his bedroom._

* * *

The moment Sakura shut the door to her room, she couldn't help but let out a small bark of laughter. These people were insane! In less than a day of being a member of the crew she had already assaulted someone, healed a head injury, had a man who looked like a fucking _shark_ see her in her underwear, calmed the most violent member of the crew down with a single touch, slammed a crew member against a wall, and had her thigh caressed by a quiet red head. She could only imagine what she was going to happen next.

 _'For all I know, I'm going to walk in on some kind of weird ass orgy or meet a plant man. Kind of hoping for plant men. An orgy filled with men is too much of a wet dream and I don't think I could hold back the nose bleed if I had to witness that.'_ she thought with a small sigh.

With a small shake of her head to clear her thoughts, she quickly put her clothes from earlier back on, making sure to take care when her fingers brushed over the crimson cloud to stood proudly on her hip. She smirked silently to herself, knowing that her life was only going to get better. Tomorrow her and the rest of the crew would be leaving the docks and heading for the open seas. Where their destination was, she had no idea. Part of her didn't care either. Anywhere was better than Ame, especially since the village she was from wasn't all that far away from where she was. The further she was from Konoha, the better.

Sakura glanced out the small window in her bed chambers and noted that the shops in the village would be done setting up and that she was better off getting her supply run done and over with. It seemed that healing Deidara had taken a bit longer than she had realized. She could have sworn that the moon had been high and the hour had been late when she had been woken up to heal the blonde. She shrugged it off, either her healing had taken awhile longer than normal or she had been stuck in her thoughts longer than she had realized.

After quickly lacing up her boots, Sakura exited her bedroom and made her way towards the solid wooden stairs that led up to the deck. She had noticed that the ship was strangely quiet but thought nothing of it. She figured it was still pretty early in the morning and she doubted that the others would bother dragging their sorry asses out of bed before at least mid morning. She supposed that she couldn't really blame them either. If she hadn't been woken up by some kid named Tobi to treat Deidara's head wound, she would probably still be sleeping as well.

Now that she thought about it, why the hell was the blond pirate messing with the fucking sails after dark? Was he daft? She mentally shook her head, maybe she could get lucky and have the ship to herself for awhile after she gathered the supplies she needed from the village market. What she would do with her quiet alone time, she had no idea. She was sure that she could figure something out.

 _'Suppose I could explore more of the ship if I got bored. But then again, I don't want to accidentally walk in on one of the guy's sleeping. That'd be one awkward good morning greeting.',_ she thought with a small sigh. With a small, almost nonexistent shrug, she pushed open the door that led to the deck and silently closed the door behind her, not wanting to disturb the sleeping crew.

She silently padded across the deck towards the door that led to the Captain's office, trying as hard as she could to not make a single sound as she walked across the deck. She noticed that there were candles lit in Pein's office and let out a silent sigh of relief when it seemed that she was indeed awake. She didn't want to just disappear from the ship without informing someone. She didn't want the crew and Captain to think that she had gotten cold feet and fled. She approached the door to the office silently and let her knuckles rap against the door just loud enough for the Captain to hear. When she heard him grunt at her to enter, she quietly opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door silently behind her.

"You're up early, most of the crew won't be awake for some time. I heard you were woken up to treat Deidara late last night, is he okay?", Pein asked, setting the stack of papers in his hands down on the desk, giving her his full attention.

"He's fine. He had a pretty nasty gash on his head but it's all healed up now. He should be fine when he wakes up as long as he doesn't decide to undo all the work I did and fall off a beam again.", she replied with a small shrug.

"I appreciate you taking the utmost care of him. He is young and a little reckless but a good addition to the crew nonetheless. His incident isn't the only one I have heard about though. I was told that you shattered Itachi's hand when he stuck up on you, are these claims true, Sakura?", the Captain asked with a raised eyebrow. In truth, he had heard quiet a few little stories from his crew about the new medic. She had been a member of his crew for a full day and already her reputation for being inhumanly strong were being proven true. Her abilities were truly intriguing.

"Yes, I did. I healed his hand afterwards and scolded him for sneaking up on me. As a pirate, you'd think he would have the foresight not to sneak up on people if he didn't wish to be injured.", she explained, not even looking guilty about the exchange that she'd had with the dark haired man. He should have known better and he paid the price for not thinking about his actions.

"I suppose I can't disagree with you. You must forgive Itachi, his sight isn't as strong as it once was. I was actually going to talk to you about that, now that I think about it.", Pein explained, gesturing for Sakura to sit in one of the plush chairs in front of his desk. He knew that she had come to his office for a reason but it was best to discuss this with her right away, rather than wait until he could find the time to talk to her about it in the future. The faster the issue with Itachi's eyes was dealt with, the better.

"What about Itachi's sight? Is he going blind or something?", Sakura asked after situating herself comfortably in the plush, leather chair. She leaned forward with interest and waited for the Captain to explain the situation to her.

"You could say that, yes. Itachi's family possess a very unique ability in their eyes, but it comes at a price. I would explain further, but that is for him to explain to you. But I would like to ask you, not as your Captain, but as a fellow crew member, to look at his eyes and see if anything can be done to heal them. I do not doubt your abilities as a medic, but blindness is the price he must pay for his own gift. I do not know if anything can be done about it but I would like you to try, if you are willing, that is.", Pein explained with a small sigh.

Itachi going blind was something that would make life certainly difficult, especially since he was a pirate. Without his sight, the dark haired man would surely die if they were ever attacked. The dark haired male had been a loyal member of the crew since he was thirteen years old. Ten years of loyal service and dying due to being struck down while blind was not something Pein wanted to see happen. If there was even a chance of him being able to help the man, he was going to do everything in his power to help Itachi.

"So he has a gift too, huh? I would be more than willing to see what I can do for him once I get back from the village today. That was the reason I came here this morning. I forgot to grab my pack from the bar that I met Hidan at and I'd kind of like to go get them. Plus, after taking inventory of everything in the infirmary, there are a few things that are missing. I'd like to go and pick up the things I need to make sure everything is good to go for when we set sail. Is that acceptable, Captain?", Sakura explained with a small wave of her hand.

Finding out that she wasn't the only one on board the ship that had a gift was a real shock. But she supposed that she shouldn't have been so surprised, Hidan had told her that the Akatsuki consisted of individuals that weren't exactly normal. After all, Kisame was fucking _blue._ He was supposedly immortal. As for Sasori, Deidara, and that kid named Tobi, she had no idea what to expect from them. She would find out in due time, she supposed.

"I appreciate your willingness to see what you can do. I understand if there is nothing that you can do in the end, but I'm grateful to you are willing to try. As for making a trip to the village, do as you wish. I will not confine you to the ship. I would, however, like you to take someone with you, if you don't mind. Do not think of it as me not trusting you, it is merely a precaution. Aside from Hidan, nobody is supposed to venture into the villages alone. I'm sure you can understand that we are obviously wanted criminals and that being cornered alone without back up is not the best idea.", Pein explained calmly, he had noticed her purse her lips in annoyance when he told her he wanted someone to go with her. It was for her own safety, that's all.

"I understand. Who will you be sending with me? And why is Hidan able to leave alone, I can't help but be slightly curious. I understand if you can't tell me, Captain.", Sakura asked, her interest slightly piqued. She mentally scolded herself for questioning Hidan's freedom to roam around alone, but she couldn't help herself.

"Hidan is pretty much immortal, no human could kill him no matter how hard they tried. He is allowed to roam alone freely for that reason. If you wish to know more, you will have to ask him about it. As for who is going with you, I will be sending Deidara with you. I can hear him bumbling around on the deck and I would rather he didn't wake up the rest of the crew. Blood isn't easy to clean out of wood and Sasori would not be happy if he bled more on the deck. Take this with you to pay for the supplies you need from the village and inform Deidara that he will be accompanying you.", Pein replied smoothly, sliding a bag of coin towards the edge of his desk for her to grab.

"Thank you, Captain. I'll be off then. Let Itachi know that I will look at his eyes when I return.", Sakura replied with a nod before lifting herself from the comfort of her chair, grabbing the bag that was heavy with coin from the edge of the desk. She doubted that she would need it all to purchase what she required, but it was better to have too much than not enough. She nodded her head at Pein and made her way towards the door and stopped with her hand on the handle when she heard the Captain call her name.

"Oh, and Sakura, I thought I told you to call me Pein.", he called out, a smirk evident in his voice, almost as if he was teasing her for her formality.

Sakura was relieved that her back was turned to him and that he could not see the pink tint on her cheeks or the small flinch that traveled through her body. She knew that he wanted her to refer to him by his name when on board the ship, but something about referring him by anything other than his title seemed a little too personal for her tastes. She barely knew the man and he was insisting that she call him by his name rather than his title. It was a completely different experience for her. Back home, she had been required to call her own father by Master. Calling him anything but Master resulted in her being punished.

This was going to take some serious getting used to.

"Of course, forgive me...Pein.", she responded a little uneasily. She quickly opened the door to his office and slid out before closing the door gently behind her.

* * *

Pein watched the retreating back of his medic, his mind swimming his interest. He hadn't missed the small flinch that coursed through her body when he had reminded her to refer to him by name. The reasoning behind the flinch was unknown and he couldn't help but be curious. From what he had heard from his crew, he was a hot tempered woman that didn't take shit from anyone. But at that moment, she almost seemed as if she was waiting for him to punish her for something.

Just how much was this woman keeping from them? He knew that she had not had the greatest upbringing, it was downright horrendous from the small bits and pieces that she had told himself and Hidan. Anything else though, was a complete mystery. In the span of a few seconds, it had been almost like she had gone from the fiery, no nonsense woman that he had been introduced to the day before to a woman who wanted nothing more than to disappear. Pein had a feeling that once they left the port and made their way to the open seas that she would calm down and return to the woman he had first met.

That flinch bothered him, the hesitant saying of his name, they were both mysteries. And he was determined to rid her of the nightmares that seemed to plague her mind. He was not a kind man by any means, but the people that worked for him as his crew would be taken care of to the greatest extent. If his crew did not respect and like him, the entire ship would be in shambles. Nobody wanted to take orders from someone they could not stand after all.

With a small, almost inaudible sigh, Pein picked up the discarded stack of papers on his desk and resumed his reading. They were due to set out towards Shima no Hikari to collect the rest of the crew. He had left Kakazu, Konan, and Zetsu on the island to collect the money that they were owed and to pick up a few bounties if they were able to. Though they were pirates, they were not thugs. Unless another ship threatened them, they would not attack another sailing ship without reason.

He and his crew consisted of wanted criminals, most of which were truly innocent, and he refused to allow them to die a meaningless death.

* * *

Sakura shut the door to Pein's office and let out a small sigh, that was not the way she had expected to start her morning. She'd had a feeling that he would question her about her encounters with Itachi and Deidara, but she hadn't expected it to be right away in the morning. Again, word traveled fast as lightening on the ship. She was sure that by now that the entire crew knew that Kisame, Tobi, and Deidara had seen her in nothing more than her underwear. She swore to the God's above if any of the crew asked for a peak, Pein would be questioning her about the odd shapes and angles of their broken arms and legs.

It didn't take her more than a few moments to spot the blonde pirate that she was supposed to take into the village with her. She felt her eye twitch with annyance when she realized what he was doing. The idiot was already back to climbing up the beams of the ship to finish checking the sails. She was well aware that it was his job to do so, but she had just healed him hours before. If he were to fall, there was no telling just how much worse his injury would be. She had healed the injury, yes. But his body needed to take its time recovering as well.

"Deidara, I swear to the Fates if you don't get down here right now that I will break that pole and make you clean it up and fix it.", Sakura ordered from her spot on the deck. She had no doubt in her mind that the Captain could hear her scolding the blonde like he was a child, but she wasn't in the mood to heal the idiot twice in the span of a couple of hours.

"Oh, shit. Give me a sec, I'll be right down, yeah!", the blonde called back with a wave of his hand.

Sakura just sighed and nodded her head, making a point to tap her foot impatiently. Again, she had to remind herself that this was his job and he was expected to do it, but she just wanted to get her shit done so she could get back and get everything ready for the trip tomorrow. She had no idea where they were headed and she really didn't care. Anywhere was better than where they were. She was just grateful that it wasn't raining anymore. Sunny days were rare in this part of the day and she wanted to take advantage of it right away, lest she be stuck walking in the rain again.

She couldn't deny that she was impressed when she watched the young blond trapeze his way down the support beam that held up the slab of wood he had been balancing on just moments before. She couldn't help but wonder if it was just a talent he had picked up from being a pirate or if it had something to do with his life before the Akatsuki. She wouldn't ask, of course, but she couldn't deny her curiosity.

"Sorry about that, yeah. I was almost done getting everything ready before I fell last night. Thanks again for patching me up, by the way. I'm Deidara, yeah. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself last night.", Deidara said with a lopsided, boyish grin. Now that he had the chance to actually see the new medic when his head didn't feel like it was splitting at the seams, he realized that she couldn't be that much younger than himself. He himself was only nineteen and until now, the youngest member of the crew.

"I'm Sakura, and it's no problem. But I'm pretty sure I told you not to be messing around with heights. You may be physically healed, but your body still needs to heal itself.", she scolded with a small smirk. She hadn't really been paying attention before, but it looked like he was only a year or two older than herself. She was a little relieved that she wasn't going to be stuck on a crew of old men. Oh, the stories the port towns would conjure up!

"I know you did, yeah. But duty calls, we can't leave unless I finish my job. Did you need something from me this morning or did you just want to scold me?", Deidara responded with a smirk of his own. He couldn't deny that the medic was likable enough, but that would more than likely change once she found out the reason he had become a member at the mere age of twelve. He clenched his hands anxiously behind his back, hoping that she wouldn't notice.

"You okay there, Deidara? You look like you're in pain, to be honest. And yeah, Pein wanted you to come into the village with me. I have to get some stuff for the infirmary and I forgot my pack back at my room at the bar last night.", she replied with a raised eyebrow. In less than a minute, he had gone from happy go lucky to anxious. She wasn't that intimidating, was she?

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I'll come with you to the village, yeah. I'm done here anyway and I need to pick up a couple things anyway. Mind if I run back to my room real quick? I want to change and need to grab some coin, yeah.", Deidara asked, jabbing his thumb towards the door that led to the infirmary and everyone's rooms. When he saw her nod, he turned on his heel and rushed towards the door.

Sakura just watched him take off with an amused smirk and a raised eyebrow. He sure had a lot of energy right away in the morning.

"I see you've met Blondie, he's pretty fucking energetic in the morning. Lucky bastard.", a voice spoke up from behind.

Sakura whipped around to find Hidan standing almost directly behind her, his violet eyes dancing with barely withheld amusement.

"Dammit, Hidan! Don't sneak up on me like that! Weasel boy learned that the hard way, you're lucky I didn't punch you through the Captain's office door.", Sakura scolded, crossing her arms with a small pout. What was with the men on this ship and sneaking up on her?! Was the prospect of getting the crap beaten out of them by a petite pink haired woman that attractive sounding?

"Couldn't resist, Doc. And trust me, if you punched me through a wall, I'd probably fucking fall in love with you.", the silver haired pirate pointed out with a predatory smirk.

He didn't know what it was about this woman, she was just so damn interesting. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something in his mind was constantly telling him to seek her out now. He hadn't felt like this in years and he didn't know why the feeling in the back of his head was back. Since he had run into her at the bar, his chest seemed to almost constrict when she wasn't around him. He had no idea what it was about this woman, but he felt this insane need to protect her, even though he knew she was totally capable of taking care of herself.

 _'I should know, after all. But I doubt she remembers, it was so fucking long ago.'_ , he thought with a slight grimace.

"Bit of a masochist, are we?", she taunted jokingly.

"You have no fucking clue, Doc.", he threw back with a shrug of his shoulders. He enjoyed pain, he wasn't about to deny it. He frowned when he noticed Deidara making his way back towards them. Something about her hanging around another male that she didn't completely trust didn't sit with him very well. He wasn't going to say anything out loud, he knew that the young blonde was virtually harmless and wouldn't hurt her. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"We talking about Hidan's love for pain, yeah?", Deidara called out with a small chuckle as he made his way back over to Sakura. He couldn't help but wonder what the silver haired pirate was doing awake so early, he was usually the last person to wake up every morning.

"It would seem so, eh, Masochist?", Sakura replied, shooting a small smirk in Hidan's direction. She didn't even bother to hide her eye roll when he winked at her in return. Men, what could you do? "You ready to go, Deidara?"

"Ready when you are, yeah.", Deidara nodded, stuffing his hands in his baggy, blue cotton pants. Normally, he would have forgone a shirt, but he figured since he was going into town, he might as well throw one on for the hell of it. Most of the guys on the ship walked around shirtless, himself included, but figured Sakura would have sent him back for one if he hadn't put one on. So, he'd thrown on a fishnet shirt and a matching blue crop top that exposed his stomach.

"Well, I guess we should be off. See you later, Hidan.", she nodded in return, turning to shoot Hidan a small smile before turning back and following the blonde off the ship.

Hidan watched them go with a small pout gracing his features. The pain in his chest was slowly coming back as she left his presence, the small voice in the back of his head begging him to return to her side. He had no idea what was going on with him. First, she didn't remember him. Then, she was able to calm him with a single touch, something that nobody before him had been able to do. And lastly, she was leaving off to do who knows what with another member of the crew. He had no inkling of an idea as to what was going on with him.

And he didn't like the feeling of not knowing what was going on with his own mind and body. It felt almost too much like one of Itachi's little mind tricks to be comfortable.

He would just have to sit and wait for her to return, maybe then he would try to ask her if she had any idea what was going on with him.

With a confused sigh, Hidan made his way below deck and towards the room that housed most of the weapons on the ship. Most of the crew had their own personal weapons that they used when they were under attack, but it was his job to make sure the spares were in top condition and ready to be used at any given moment. He shut the door to the weapons room behind him and sat on a crate before picking up the closest weapon to him, a war ax that could become the most brutal weapon known to man if it was used by the right wielder. With another sigh, he got to work polishing a shining the ax in his lap.

He just hoped that Sakura would return to the ship soon and hopefully be able to answer some of his questions.

* * *

Sakura and Deidara snickered to themselves as they walked down the port village. The had to admit, the looks of admiration that the villagers were giving them was pretty awesome in their opinion. She'd been told that the villages that surrounded Ame practically worshiped the Akatsuki, apparently this was where Pein had grown up before becoming the captain of one of the most infamous pirate crews that sailed the seas. The pink haired pirate couldn't help but feel a small amount of pride that she was one of the people that they adored, even if they had never seen her until that day.

The trip back to the tavern that she had left her bag at was mostly spent in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Sakura's thoughts traveled back to the strange behavior that she had seen from both Hidan and the blonde currently walking next to her. She had noticed that Hidan had looked almost uncomfortable with her going to the village alone with Deidara. She'd wanted to call him out on him and ask him what his deal was, but she held her tongue. It was still way too early in the morning to cause an argument.

Deidara, on the other hand, was confusing her. She could tell that he was quite bubbly and chatty by nature, but seemed to almost shy away from her. He had been perfectly content when she had healed him and he had woken up with his head in her lap. Hell, he had even joked around with Kisame while he had been laying on her. But then when she had met up with him after her meeting with Pein, he seemed almost wary of her. She didn't know if he was hiding something from her or if he was just intimidated by her. She didn't want to push him into telling her what he was thinking, he would tell her in his own time. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard him speak up from beside her.

"I'm sorry, Sakura.", the blonde apologized softly, looking over at her from the corner of his eye, almost as if he was surveying her reaction.

"What is there to be sorry for, Deidara?", she asked, completely confused. What could he possibly be apologizing to her for?

"I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm sorry that I'm kind of shutting you out I guess, yeah. You've been nothing but kind to me since you were accepted into the crew and I haven't really been all that honest with you. I know about your gift but don't know why you chose to be apart of the crew. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I want to show you my gift, yeah. If you want to see it, I mean.", Deidara rushed out, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

"Deidara, you're babbling. I get it, you're curious. It isn't everyday that a random pink haired woman with the power to heal and cause earthquakes with the mere stomp of her foot waltzes onto a pirate ship and wants to join the crew. I'm sorry to say that there isn't much to say about why I joined other than wanting to finally be free. Life growing up wasn't easy and I can't even remember what it's like to have a family. The people who were supposed to be my family decided that using my gift was better for lining their own pockets than raising their daughter. As for your gift, I'd love to see it. It's refreshing to know that I'm not the only one on board that has one. Aside from Itachi, I mean.", Sakura explained with a shrug, patting the blondes shoulder in understanding.

Deidara let out a relieved breath, grateful that she understood what he was trying to get out. He was overjoyed that she trusted him enough to tell him a little about her past before coming to be apart of the crew. He knew that he shouldn't expect any details anytime soon, but he was content with the small tidbit that she had given him. But now, it was his turn. He had grown accustomed to people being utterly disgusted with him because of who he was and what he possessed.

"Thanks for telling me that, Sakura. I know I can't expect anymore than the few details you've given to me but I still appreciate it. When I first saw you come onto the ship with Hidan, I didn't know what to think, to be honest. He never brings anyone back with him, yeah. I had a feeling that you'd become our newest crew member and that was scary, yeah. Everyone on the ship is used to my, uh, deformity I guess. So, please, don't judge me before I've explained myself, yeah.", Deidara pleaded sheepishly before closing his eyes and holding up his hands for her, his palms facing outwards.

To say Sakura was shocked would be an understatement. Never in all her life had she seen anything like it before in her life. Mouths. There were mouths on his palms! They were grinning at her and waggling their tongues at her in a teasing manner! If she had been a normal woman, she probably would have been mortified. But, as a medic and someone who possessed a gift as well, she was nothing short of intrigued. With a careful hand, she grabbed his wrist and positioned his hand so it was facing upward. She looked up at him questioningly, silently asking him if it was okay for her to touch them. When she received a shy nod, she raised her other had and gently glided a finger across the lips of the mouth.

Deidara was beyond shocked. She hadn't screamed. She hadn't called him a freak or any number of names that he had been called in the past. She was merely curious. He flinched a little when he felt her hand close over his wrist and opened his eyes to watch what she was doing. He resisted the urge to yank his wrist from her grasp when she looked up at him, silently asking him if she could touch them. Not knowing what else to do, he gave her a small, shy nod.

"What do they do, Deidara? I've never seen anything like them.", Sakura asked quietly, not once stopping her finger from tracing the mouth on his palm. She hadn't missed his look of shock when he saw that she wasn't disgusted with him. She knew exactly how he felt, she knew it all too well. Chances were, his past was about as pretty as her own.

"I use them to make sculptures, mostly with clay. I can animate the sculptures and make them explode if I want, yeah. I could show you sometime, if you want.", Deidara explained with a slight blush.

"I'd like that, Deidara. It sounds really neat and I'd love to see what you are capable of doing with your artwork. Do you use your gift when you fight or do you use a regular weapon?", she asked curiously. She couldn't help herself! They were just so...dare she say cute? She had to resist the sudden urge to pinch the blondes flushed cheeks. He was just so confused and flustered!

"I use them when we're fighting. I usually craft a transport, usually an owl, and take to the skies. I have to be careful when we're fighting at sea though, I don't think the Captain would like it if I accidentally blew a whole in the ship.", he explained with a small bark of laughter, he laughed again when the image of Captain Pein's horrified face came to mind.

"An owl, huh? Sounds interesting. I can't wait to see what you can do, Deidara.", she smirked, deciding it was finally time for her to let go of his hand. She frowned when she watched him stuff his hands back into his pockets.

"The people in the village don't think my deformity is as interesting as you do.", he sighed.

"Then they don't appreciate a true artists hands.", she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"That they don't. Beauty is fleeting! Like an explosion, yeah!", Deidara suddenly cried out with excitement, startling Sakura out of her pouting.

"You take your art pretty seriously, don't you Deidara.", she asked with a small smirk as she started back down the road, turning her head to the side to make sure he was still following her.

"I do, yeah. When I was growing up, I didn't really have anyone to depend on, my parents all but threw me away when the mouths on my palms emerged. They thought I was disgusting, a freak. They sold me to a fucking wandering freak show. They put their five year old son in a cage, took the money, and left. I spent seven years in a cage, yeah. My body was forced to contort into position that no person's body should be twisted into. I know you watched me when I was going down the pole, a trick I picked up growing up. The forced me to wear these braces over the mouths on my hands, preventing me from using them. I would always find ways to rip them off and create explosions within the tents, burning them to the ground.", he spat out bitterly, his eyes clenching shut as memories of his childhood flooded through his mind. He didn't know why he was telling her all this, but he felt like he could trust her not to judge him.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, Deidara. But if I ever hear you refer to your gift as a deformity again, I'll put you through a tree. You're special, just like me. I could never be disgusted with you. I understand your pain, I really, really do. If you don't want to keep telling me these things, then stop. I don't want you to be forced to relive memories that you don't wish to remember.", Sakura sighed softly, curling an arm around on of Deidara's. She knew that if they stopped again, they wouldn't be getting their errands run.

"No, I want to tell you. I know I can trust you, you understand me in a way that the rest of the crew can't. I barely know you and I feel like I've known you forever. I completely believe that you'll throw me through a tree, I won't disrespect my gift anymore. There isn't a whole lot more to tell about my past though, as long as I keep out all the gory details. Basically, Sasori found me after an attempt at blowing the entire circus along with myself up. He grabbed me at the last moment and shielded my body with his own, protecting me from all the debris. After finding out why I did it, he tossed me on his back and carried me back to the ship. I've been here ever since.", he continued with a small smile, his thoughts wandering back to the stoic red head back on the ship.

"Sasori must really care for you, huh? I can't imagine that Sasori is much older than us though, he looks so young. I have to say though, he's certainly gained my respect as a person. It takes serious balls to literally dive into an explosion to save a kid you'd never met before.", Sakura nodded with a small smile of her own. She offhandedly realized that she was quite comfortable in the presence of the blonde pirate, almost feeling a sort of kinship with him. She rarely smiled but found that she'd been smiling quite a lot since she had left the ship with him.

"He does, though he doesn't really show it with words. Just small actions. I'm sure that you noticed that he doesn't really talk much. He doesn't agree with my view on art and we argue about it a lot, but it's all in good fun. When I first boarded the ship, I used to get really bad nightmares about the night he found me. I'd wake up screaming bloody murder and he would burst into my room and hold me until I calmed down enough to go back to sleep. He never said a word, but I knew he cared.", Deidara replied with a smile.

"He did the same thing for me, in a way. When I was finished doing the inventory for the infirmary, I fell asleep curled up against the wall. I was having a nightmare and he tried to wake me up from it, I guess. He couldn't get me to wake up so he say next to me until I woke up. When I tried to apologize for making him wait, he just shook his head and acted like nothing had happened.", Sakura explained with a small sigh.

"You're lucky, he doesn't do that for just anyone, yeah."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, he's the most impatient person I know. But also one of the most caring people I think I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Aside from you, yeah."

"Say, Deidara?"

"Yeah, Sakura?"

"Never, ever change. You're too sweet to be bitter and hurt, you deserve nothing but happiness. And I'll be damned if anyone ever hurts you again."

"Thank you...Sakura."

Sakura just nodded, not looking over in Deidara's direction as they walked down the path.

Completely missing the single tear of happiness that slid down the blondes cheek at her love filled order.

* * *

Sakura let out a relieved sigh when her and Deidara walked up the ramp that led to the ships deck. They had been gone far longer than they had expected, but she wouldn't take back the deep conversations that she and the blonde had had for anything. She felt like she had a true friend in the blonde and would do anything and everything in her power to make sure he never felt alone again. She waved goodbye to him as he broke away from her side to make his way over to where Kisame was standing, watching them with interest.

"Behave yourself, Blondie! No more acrobatic stunts that cause brain trauma!", she ordered sternly before turning on her heel and making her way towards the door to Pein's office. She needed to return the rest of the coin that she'd ended up not needing to him. Plus, she needed to know where she could find Itachi at this time of day. She had no idea where he would be nor did she know what his job on the ship was. She'd rather not spend the rest of the day looking for a raven haired weasel if she could avoid it.

"No promises, Sakura!", she heard Deidara call out, mirth lacing his voice.

She couldn't help but smile softly, he sounded so much happier now that he knew that she accepted everything about him. She let her smile fall and knocked on the door of the office and waited for the Captain's permission to enter. Once she heard him grunt from within, she opened the door and stepped inside. She clicked the door shut behind her and made her way up to his desk, dropping the bag that easily still held half the coin he had given her in it on the polished surface.

"I take it you found everything you needed for your stores?", Pein asked, looking up from the papers that seemed to never leave his grasp.

"Indeed, I have everything I need plus I finally have my pack back.", she nodded.

"How was Deidara during your little trip? I know he can be a little jumpy, maybe even a little skittish."

"He was fine, he told me about his past before Sasori brought him here. I swear, if any of those sick bastards that hurt him still breathe, I'll hunt them down and they'll wish that they had blown up in Deidara's explosion.", she replied with a small snarl.

 _'I knew sending Deidara with her would be a good thing. She may seem bitter and hurt, but she protects those she cares about fiercely. When he called out to her before she knocked, he sounded happier than I've ever seen since he came here.'_ , Pein thought, mentally beaming at the woman in front of him. He truly had made a good choice when he recruited her.

"I assure you, if anyone like that ever turns up, I will not stop you. I can assure you, I've never heard him sound as happy as he is right now when he called out to you before you knocked.", he explained, the corners of his lips turning upwards in a small smile.

"If I can hear the smile in his voice forever, I would gladly shoulder his demons for him. He's too sweet to be so hurt.", Sakura replied, her emerald eyes flashing in determination. She would do anything and everything in her power to help those who needed her most, even if that meant she had to shoulder their pain so they could live freely and happily. She would easily sacrifice everything for those who needed her most.

"We are truly lucky to have a woman like you within our ranks, Sakura. Please believe me when I tell you this.", Pein admitted softly, the papers in his hands dropping limply from his grasp. They scattered carelessly on his desk, he didn't even have the energy to care about them at this point. He set his elbows on his desk, folding his fingers together before resting his forehead on them. He let out a tired sigh.

"No, Pein. It is I who is lucky to have you and the rest of the crew. Before meeting Hidan, I had no hope left. I've been here for a day and I feel like this is right where I belong. Know this, Pein, I will shoulder your pain and anguish too. You just have to say the word. Just looking at you, I can tell that you are tired, so, so very tired. May I ask what troubles you?", Sakura whispered, shaking her head with a small smile. She walked around the desk and placed her hand comfortingly on his shoulder, giving in a small squeeze.

"Do not worry about my troubles, Sakura. Take your own troubles and feelings into account, this I must insist that you do. I can't have my medic ailing from exhaustion. I must ask that you put your own health before anything. I am sure that you have noticed in your short time among us that we are a very troubled group. We all have our demons and some are better than others at hiding them. But it seems that even I am not able to escape your critical eye.", Pein explained softly, lifting his head from his hands and grasping the hand on his shoulder with one of his own. He didn't look back at her, he didn't dare. He did not want her to shoulder his burdens along with her own, no matter how much she insisted upon it.

"I will take what you have said into consideration, but I must insist that you take better care of yourself, Pein. We can't have our Captain putting his needs on hold. You asked that I take my own demons into consideration and now I must ask the same of you. Watching the people who are quickly becoming precious to me suffer will only make me worry more. If there is, at anytime, anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask.", She insisted just as softly.

"Thank you, Sakura. You should go and get some rest, we will be setting out early tomorrow to pick up the rest of the crew. They will be interested to see the new member, I assure you. You can find Itachi in his room, it's right next to yours on the right.", Pein nodded, releasing her hand, suddenly missing the warmth radiating off of her as she removed her hand from his person.

"No, thank you, Pein. You have given me much more than you could ever even imagine. I will go find Itachi now, but I must insist that you take a break and relax. Doctors orders.", she ordered with a small smirk, rounding the desk once more and making her way towards the door that would take her back to the deck.

"As you wish, Doc.", he replied with his own smirk.

"Looks like Hidan isn't the only one who calls me Doc.", she threw back over her shoulder. "Now, put that paperwork away and take a damn nap! You're starting to look like you're going to collapse and you're way too young to keel over from exhaustion!"

"Get out of my office and get to work!", Pein snapped playfully, thrusting his finger towards the door for effect.

"Aye aye, Captain.", she chuckled, throwing him a mock salute over her shoulder before exiting the office.

Pein watched her go with a small smile, he and his crew truly did not understand just how lucky they were to have her around. She had been apart of the crew for a single day and already things were changing. Deidara's smile could be heard in his voice, a feat that nobody had ever expected to happen after the trauma of his childhood. He knew that the blonde wasn't the only one who had been touched by the kindness that still lurked in her soul. She had comforted him when she could tell that he was stressing and didn't know what to do.

She had told him that she would shoulder his burdens just as she had done for Deidara.

She had told him to take his health into consideration.

She had shown him a brand of kindness that was completely new to him.

She had shown him that there truly was good still left in the world, even if she herself could not truly see it.

Hell, she could calm Hidan down when he was on the verge of one of his rampages, that itself was impressive.

"Sakura, don't ever change. You are exactly what this crew needs.", he sighed to himself before organizing the papers on his desk. Once he was done, he made his way out of his office and onto the deck, fully intending to take that nap.

Doctors orders, after all.

* * *

Sakura walked through the halls under the deck, making her way towards Itachi's room. Pein had told her that it was right next to her own room on the right. She approached the door and knocked on the door firmly, stepping back away from the door while she waited for the raven haired pirate to answer his door. She was glad that she didn't have to wait long before the door creaked open and a pair of dull, black eyes peered out at her.

"Something I can help you with, Sakura?", Itachi asked softly, taking in the calm expression on the medics face.

"Pein wanted me to look at your eyes, if you'll allow it. He informed me that your own gift causes you issues with your eyes and that you are possibly going blind. He asked me to see if there was anything I could do to help you, again, if you will allow me.", Sakura explained with a small smile. She could tell that his eyes were precious to him and that if he refused her help, there would be nothing she could do to help him. She could not force him to allow her to examine them.

"I would like that, yes. Shall we go to the infirmary, I see you did some shopping and I'm sure you would like to get those herbs put away.", he replied with a nod towards her bag.

"Yes, if you'd follow me, we'll get right to it. Would you mind filling me in on the condition of your sight? Pein only gave me the bare basics, probably figured it would be best to hear the details from you rather than have all my information be total hearsay.", Sakura asked, gesturing for him to follow her down the narrow hallway. She saw Itachi nod slowly before he exited his room, shutting his door quietly behind him before following her in the direction of the infirmary.

Sakura pushed open the door of the infirmary and gestured for Itachi to have a seat on one of the cots while she quickly put away the herbs, bandages, and all of her other medical supplies away in their rightful places. Once her shopping bag was empty, she turned towards Itachi and gave him a small smile. Gesturing for him to explain his situation to her.

"My eyes retain a gift known as the Sharingan, it is a trait that most people in my family have. I possess what is called the Mangekyo Sharingan. It has many abilities, mostly consisting of illusions. The cost, however, is blindness. The more I use my gift, the worse my eyesight becomes. At this point in time, I am reduced to use it as a crutch so I am able to see at minimal capacity. Even then, you are still a blur.", he explained with a small frown. He was a whole lot more open about this than he was comfortable with. He had been raised to show absolutely no weakness, and here he was, seeking help from a woman six years his junior.

 _'Correction, she sought you out to help you. You're going blind, ass. Swallow a little pride and let your comrade help you if she is able.'_ , he mentally berated himself.

"Hmm, sounds like quite the predicament. If I am not mistaken, you do not have your gift activated at this moment, correct?", she asked, gesturing towards his coal colored eyes.

"That is correct. I am aware that you have probably never seen something like my eyes before and I did not wish to frighten you. Your punches hurt, you know.", he replied with a small nod.

"I would only strike you if I felt threatened. I would never be scared of your gift. We're special, you and I. Your gift is precious to you, I can tell by the dejected look in your eyes hold when you mention your impending blindness due to it.", she explained softly. Pein hadn't been kidding, the crew truly was filled with troubled souls.

"I will keep that in mind, do you truly think that you can prevent my blindness with your own gift?", Itachi asked, forcing himself to not sound hopeful. Every doctor that had examined him before had given him a zero percent chance of retaining his eyesight.

 _'She could be different, she isn't your average doctor. She mended your hand when she shattered it.',_ he mentally scolded himself.

"Well, I'm going to try my hardest. If there is even a small chance in being able to save your sight, I will do everything in my power to do it. I just need you to trust me, Weasel.", she smirked, her smirk widening when he shot her an amused glare.

"If the Captain is able to put his trust in you, I shall do the same. Would you like to begin?", he asked, taking a mental note to get her back for her crack at his name.

"Of course, I am going to place my fingers on your temples and use my gift to look at your eyes, okay? You will feel a little bit of discomfort but it will not hurt you. I must insist that you do not give into your instincts and try to remove my hands before I have removed my hands from your person. If you rip them away, you'd be risking me accidentally blinding you in the process. Are you ready?", she asked, her voice taking a small tone of authority. She was going to do everything in her power to help this man, even if it took ever ounce of energy her body possessed.

Itachi nodded and so she began. She took a seat behind him on the cot and motioned for him to lean back against her. Once he was comfortable, she gently placed two fingers to each of his temples and activated her gift. She felt him flinch against her and started to hum, trying to coax him into relaxing. Once she felt him relax against her, she got to work, not once ceasing her humming. She observed the nerve endings of his eyes, noticing that they were all but fried.

He hadn't been joking when he said that it took a toll on his body, but she had never expected it to be such a painful price. She came to the conclusion that he probably experienced almost crippling headaches due to the frying of the nerves in his eyes. She allowed her gift to start healing the existing damage in his eyes, her jaw clenching in concentration.

Not once did she stop humming to the man leaning against her as she worked, if it was what was keeping him calm, she would gladly continue to do it.

When she finished repairing all of the damage that she could find she slid her hands from his temples and slid them over his eyes.

"Your nerve endings in your eyes were fried beyond recognition. I repaired as much of the damage as I could. I must ask that you do not activate your gift unless you absolutely have to. Your vision should be improved when you open your eyes, but we will have to find time during the weeks to come to continue repairing your eyes. I would like to continue working on your eyes until they are completely healed. I can heal your eyes, Itachi.", she explained, her smile clear in her voice.

"You can heal my eyes completely, Sakura?", Itachi asked, no longer trying to hide the hope in his voice. He had to be sure that he had heard her correctly. It seemed almost too good to be true.

"Yes, Weasel. I can heal them. But it will take time. I am more than willing to do it, if you would like me to.", she replied, dropping her head onto his shoulder in exhaustion.

"I would like nothing more than your continued assistance. I do not think I can thank you enough for what you have done. May I open my eyes now?", he asked. It felt like a huge weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. For years, he had been counting down the days to his impending blindness. Constantly wondering when the day would come where he would open his eyes in the morning and be bathed in nothing but crippling darkness.

"We will find a time that will work best for you. I will remove my hands from your eyes but you need to open your eyes slowly, allow them to adjust to the light. Opening them too soon could cause them damage.", Sakura nodded against his shoulder before lifting her head and removing her hands. She slid off the cot and walked around it to stand in front of him.

Itachi nodded his head and felt her remove herself from behind him, he heard her walk around the cot and stop just in front of him. Heeding her warning, he allowed his eyes to slowly open. He blinked a couple of times to erase the blurriness of his vision and had to hold back a gasp. He could see so clearly, clearer than he had in years. He took in the brightness of her pink hair, the curves of her face, the slope of her nose, he couldn't believe his eyes. Literally.

The impressive control Itachi had over his emotions snapped, he lunged at the woman and engulfed her in a tight embrace. He heard her yelp in surprise, and felt her lose her footing, both of them landing on the floor with a loud crash. They were sprawled out on the floor in a position that could be considered indecent. His knee was wedged between her thighs, dangerously close to her most intimate areas, his hands on both sides on her head, supporting his weight. Just as he was about to apologize for his behavior, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and felt his back connect against a wall. He let out a low moan of pain at the unexpected impact.

 **"HIDAN STOP!"**

* * *

 **Like I said above, you know how I said not to expect another insanely long chapter? I clearly lied. I did not expect this chapter to end up being over 10,700 words. Holy Kisame on a Kracken. I can't believe it LOL. Hopefully this was well worth the wait.**

 **No Tobi or Kisame this chapter, sad face. :(**

 **Deidara gets a back story! Did you expect any of that? Were you shocked?**

 **Sakura is fighting people's inner demons for them! Go Sakura, you beautiful, beautiful creature.**

 **Pein is realizing that Sakura is probably the best thing that could have happened to his crew.**

 **Itachi is getting some eye action, er, treatments, get your mind out of the gutter, Pervy Reader!**

 **Hidan seems a little angry, no?**

 **I truly, truly hope that this chapter was well worth the wait. As I stated above, Orangana is the one who got my ass in gear to get this chapter written and posted for you guys! THANK YOU MY LOVELY MUSE!**

 **Again, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **Also! I am considering the idea of looking for a beta for this story, if you are interested, please shoot me a private message! With the chapters for this story getting longer and longer, it is getting harder and harder to spot any errors I may have made. I like to think that I do pretty well, since English is NOT my first language, but it is nice to have a second opinion.**


	5. Within The Abyss

**And we're back with the next chapter! Thank you for all of your kind reviews, it means a lot to know that people are really enjoying this story! Just by the sheer length that these chapters are becoming, I can truly feel myself developing more as a writer! And it's all thanks to you guys!**

 **To the Guest that was surprised to find out that my first language is indeed NOT English, is it really that shocking? My first language is Russian, lol. I was actually pretty worried when I started posting on this site that my English would not be the greatest, as English grammar is completely different than Russian. But, I guess if it's pretty good for not being a native English speaker, I'm happy as hell about it!**

 **I actually thought that the Russian phrase I use every chapter in the authors note would be a dead giveaway that English isn't my first language. Seems I was wrong, haha.**

 **Warning; Some angsty goodness ahead.**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper!**

* * *

 _Previously;_

 _"I would like nothing more than your continued assistance. I do not think I can thank you enough for what you have done. May I open my eyes now?", he asked. It felt like a huge weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. For years, he had been counting down the days to his impending blindness. Constantly wondering when the day would come where he would open his eyes in the morning and be bathed in nothing but crippling darkness._

 _"We will find a time that will work best for you. I will remove my hands from your eyes but you need to open your eyes slowly, allow them to adjust to the light. Opening them too soon could cause them damage.", Sakura nodded against his shoulder before lifting her head and removing her hands. She slid off the cot and walked around it to stand in front of him._

 _Itachi nodded his head and felt her remove herself from behind him, he heard her walk around the cot and stop just in front of him. Heeding her warning, he allowed his eyes to slowly open. He blinked a couple of times to erase the blurriness of his vision and had to hold back a gasp. He could see so clearly, clearer than he had in years. He took in the brightness of her pink hair, the curves of her face, the slope of her nose, he couldn't believe his eyes. Literally._

 _The impressive control Itachi had over his emotions snapped, he lunged at the woman and engulfed her in a tight embrace. He heard her yelp in surprise, and felt her lose her footing, both of them landing on the floor with a loud crash. They were sprawled out on the floor in a position that could be considered indecent. His knee was wedged between her thighs, dangerously close to her most intimate areas, his hands on both sides on her head, supporting his weight. Just as he was about to apologize for his behavior, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and felt his back connect against a wall. He let out a low moan of pain at the unexpected impact._

 _ **"HIDAN STOP!"**_

* * *

Sakura's eyes widened as she took in the scene unfolding right in front of her. One moment she was being brought into the tightest embrace she had ever experienced. Then she felt her feet sliding out from beneath her and felt her back colliding with the floor below and the weight of Itachi pressed up against her, signaling that she had pulled him to the ground with her. And _then_ , just as quickly as the weight had been dropped on her, it was removed quicker than her mind could process. She lifted her gaze to find Itachi pinned to the wall by a very, _very_ angry Hidan. She could see the anger practically radiating off of his person.

 **"HIDAN STOP!",** she cried, vaulting her body off of the floor and wrapping her arms around the silver haired pirates waist, trying to pry him away from Itachi.

Hidan growled angrily when he felt a pair of slim arms wrap around his waist. He had been cleaning weapons in the store room when he had heard a loud crash and a startled yelp. He had all but thrown the weapon in his hands to the side and had bolted down to the infirmary. When he had thrown the door open, he was greeted with the sight of Itachi leaning over Sakura in an almost sexual manner. Before he had any idea what he was doing, his body reacted and his mind went blank.

"Hidan, please! Let him go! He can't breathe!", Sakura cried again, her arms tightening around Hidan's waist again, doing everything in her power to restrain herself from forcefully removing him and throwing him to the other side of the room. If she were to rip him away, she risked not only hurting herself and Itachi, but Hidan as well.

Hidan vaguely registered a voice calling out to him, pleading with him to stop. Pleading with him to calm down. While the distinctly feminine voice was pleading with him to stop, the voice in his mind was telling him to destroy Itachi for touching Sakura in such a manner. His eyes widened as he heard her voice again, crying out to him, begging him to let go.

 _Sakura!_

 _Sakura was calling out to **him**_.

Before he could gain control of himself, another wave of madness washed over his mind and his mind went blank. His eyes emptied themselves of their emotions and his consciousness was once again trust back into the deepest crevices of his psyche. He was battling against his own mind for control of his body.

Sakura was running out of ideas. Calling out to him wasn't working and her touch wasn't causing him to calm down like it had before when he had first taken her to speak with the Captain. She had been able to stop him from rampaging before, but it had been before he had succumbed to the madness that lived deep within his psyche. Now that he had truly lost control of himself, she had no idea what to do or what to expect. She had no idea if he would kill Itachi and it didn't seem like the raven haired man ad enough energy to fight him back, that, or he knew better than to struggle.

She had no idea if Hidan would turn on her once he was finished with Itachi. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the space between his shoulder blades, silently begging him to calm down. Mentally pleading with him to release the man he was currently pinning to the wall in her infirmary. Mentally crying out to him to come back to her and tell her that he was okay. She mentally flinched when she felt Hidan raise his free arm and flinched for real when she heard his fist connect with Itachi's skin. She had to bite her lip to prevent herself from screaming for someone to help her.

She had to do this alone, she had to calm him down. And she had to do it now!

She heard Itachi's body slump to the ground with a dull thud, understanding immediately that the raven haired pirate had finally lost consciousness, and that Hidan had lost interest in him. She internally winced at the sound of him hitting the cold, unforgiving floor. As much as she wanted to rush to his side and make sure that he had not sustained any serious injuries, she didn't dare loosen her hold on Hidan. Her arm flinched when she felt Hidan's nails beginning to dig into her wrists as he tried to pry her away from him. She had no idea what he would do to her if she let go, but she had no choice.

She released her grip on the silver haired man and took a quick step away from him, preparing herself in case she had to protect herself. He turned to face her, his face and eyes completely devoid of emotion. It was then that Sakura truly understood what was going on.

He was not in control of his body. Someone or something was controlling his actions and he was not able to break the control that was being held over him. Not knowing what other course of action to take, she readied her body in a fighting stance, completely prepared to punch him through the damn wall and knock his ass out if she had to. He was her friend, one of her precious people, and she refused to watch him attack the people she knew he cared for.

Violet met emerald before Hidan rushed at her, fully intending to give the woman in front of him the same treatment that he had given the unconscious man behind him. He went straight for her throat with his arm outstretched, completely unaware that she had been expecting him to do just that.

The moment Hidan charged at her, Sakura grabbed his wrist right before he could close his hand around her throat. With a whispered apology, with tightened her grip and internally flinched when she felt the bones in his wrist shatter. She saw his eyes visibly flinch in pain but showed no other signs that she had harmed him. She tightened her grip around the broken appendage and swung him around towards the door before sending him airborne, flinching when she heard the wood of the door splinter and crack, spending him straight through and into the hallway.

Not wasting any time, Sakura sprung into action, she rushed to the door, and punched the remaining pieces of the door off the hinges that held in to the wall. Once she was freed from the infirmary, she ran towards Hidan as he picked himself off the floor, completely missing the fact that the rest of the crew was watching the entire confrontation. Just as Hidan got himself up off the floor and steadied himself on his feet, Sakura launched herself at him and tackled him back to the ground. She used her enhanced strength to hold his shoulders to the ground and pinned his arms with her knees. If the situation were different, it would have looked like she was straddling his chest.

"Hidan! Wake up, you idiot!", she yelled, her breaths coming out in short bursts. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins in heavy waves, her bleeding knuckles went forgotten as she looked into his eyes. Those beautiful, blank violent orbs bore into her own, no emotion shown in his normally expressive eyes. She felt Hidan buck underneath her, trying to fling her off of himself. He left her no choice, she had to do it lest he hurt himself or anyone else.

With a small, dejected sigh, Sakura removed one of her hands and gathered as much healing energy into her palm as she was physically able to. The hallway shown with a mint green glow. She returned her gaze to Hidan's face and gave him a small, sad smile.

"This is for your own good, Hidan."

She steeled her resolve and with a look of pure determination, she quickly brought her palm down, pressing it to his forehead firmly.

All she could register was the gasps of the rest of the crew and her own pained scream before everything went black.

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes blearily as she willed the pain pulsing in her skull to cease. She blinked a couple times to clear her vision, only to realize that she was no longer on the ship. She swiveled her head back and forth, looking for anything that she recognized. All the surrounded her was darkness.

Just where was she?

She let out a small groan of frustration, she couldn't even begin to understand what was going on. All that she could remember was healing Itachi's eyes, the unexpected embrace, and Hidan's sudden, angry appearance. She remembered Hidan charging at her, but after that, her mind was blank. She let out a small sigh and slowly lifted herself to her feet and took a moment to look around at her surroundings once again.

Nothing stood out, everything was black. Almost as if she had been stuffed in a pitch black room with no way out.

"Hello?", she called out somewhat hesitant. She didn't really expect anybody to respond, but it didn't hurt to try.

When she received to answer in return, she slowly started walking in the direction she assumed was straight ahead. She continued to strain her eyes and ears, trying to pick up any signs of movement or any telltale signs that she wasn't truly alone.

She heard no such thing.

She had no idea how much time passed as she walked, before she could register what was going on or figure out where she was, she saw a single white door straight ahead of her. Not wanting to take the chance of it somehow disappearing on her, she ran as quickly as her legs would carry her towards the solid white door. When she came to stand in front of it, she noticed three large gashes in the door. With a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and reached for the doorknob. She blinked in surprise when the door offered no resistance and opened easily.

Sakura pushed the door open slowly and as quietly as she could, praying that it wouldn't creak. When it opened silently, she let out a small breath of relief and entered the room just beyond the door. She still had no idea where she was or why she was there, but she felt that there was an obvious reason for her being there. The moment she stepped fully into the room, the door swung shut behind her with a slam, the doorknob disappearing just as the door clicked shut.

Sakura flinched slightly when the door swung shut behind her but didn't dare take her gaze away from the sight in front of her. A single patch of light stood seemingly in the middle of the room she had entered. She slowly walked towards it, numerous scenarios running through her mind as she stepped closer. Was this the light at the end of the tunnel? Had she died? Was she going to die here?

The closer she got the the center of the room, Sakura was able to make out the silhouette of a small child curled up in a fetal position in the center of the light. Just who was the child. Not trusting herself to speak, she continued to make her way slowly towards the child. The closer she got, the more features she could make out. The child looked to be about six or seven years old with shaggy, shoulder length silver hair. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought the kid was related to Hidan. When she came to stand behind the child, she quietly lowered herself to the floor and sat quietly behind the child, waiting for him to notice her.

"Are you here to kill me?", the child ask quietly, fear lacing his tone. Not once did he remove his face from his knees.

"Now why would I be here to kill you, kiddo?", Sakura answered softly. Just who was this kid?

"They always come here to try to kill me. They never manage to finish me off, no matter how much I wish they would sometimes.", the boy replied dejectedly, a bitter sadness tainting his words.

It broke Sakura's heart to hear such a small child wish for their own demise.

"Well, I'm not going to kill you. I'd never do that. Can you turn around so I can see your face?", Sakura asked gently, using every ounce of restraint she could not to reach out and touch the child in front of her. The child seemed to think over her question for a moment before silently nodding and untangled his limbs from his legs.

Watching the boy intently, Sakura watched as the small, silver haired child slowly turned his body to face her, his face staring intently at his lap.

"Why do you want to see me? I'm a monster, that's what all the others always told me.", the child sighed sadly, his fingers twitching nervously in his lap.

"Because I want to help you. Do you know where we are?", Sakura explained softly with a small smile, even though he wasn't looking at her, she couldn't help but try to show him just a little bit of kindness. He seemed to need it, especially if he thought that she had come here to kill him.

"We're in the Abyss. I don't know how to get out, the others just disappeared. I don't know where they went. It's only me here.", the boy replied with a shake of his head.

"You're all alone in this place? What's you're name?", she asked gently as she raised a hand slowly and dropped it on the boy's head, gently running her fingers through his shaggy hair. She felt him tense under her touch before he relaxed, realizing that she truly wasn't going to hurt him, and leaned into her hand slowly. At least he was starting to believe that she wasn't here to harm him.

"Of course I'm alone. Nobody wants to be stuck here with a monster like me.", the boy spat out bitterly, completely ignoring her inquiry about his name.

"You aren't a monster, you're too gentle to be a monster.", Sakura disagreed with a shake of her head, not even bothering to flick the wayward strands of her hair back over her shoulders. Before she could register what was happening, one of the small boys hands shot out and grasps a handful of her hair in his fist.

"Pink...", he mumbled before releasing her hair and running his fingers over it gently.

"Yes, my hair is pink. Does that mean anything to you?", she asked, confusion lacing her tone. She made no move to remove his fingers from her hair.

"Yeah...a little girl used to play in this place with me. She had the same hair color as you. We played together all the time in this place and one day she just disappeared. She looked just like you.", the boy explained with a sigh, giving her hair a light tug before releasing it and returning his hand to his lap.

"What was this girls name? Can you tell me?", Sakura asked even more confused than before. She wracked her brain for any other children she had seen with pink hair. None came to mind and so she thought back to how many people she knew with silver hair. Hidan and the boy in front of her were the only people that came to mind.

"You should know, she's you, you know. Why did you leave me here alone, Sakura? Why did you leave me all **ALONE!"** , the boy screamed before torpedoing himself towards the woman in front of him.

Sakura's eyes widened as the boy shot towards her like a bullet. She raised her hands to catch him and wrapped her arms around the upset boy, pinning his arms to his side in her embrace. She caught sight of his face and let out a small gasp of surprise. Angry, betrayed violet eyes bore into hers as he struggled against her hold.

Hidan...

She tightened her arms around the childlike Hidan and bit back a flinch when she felt his teeth dig into the her shoulder. She tried to think back to her childhood, trying to figure out what Hidan meant when he said that they had played together in the Abyss. When she came up with no answers, she let out a sigh and gave the child in her arms a squeeze.

"Hidan, your name is Hidan isn't it?", she asked, when she heard a pained grunt, she continued. "Hidan, I don't really know what you are talking about, but I'm sorry I left you all alone. I don't have many memories of my childhood and I can't remember ever playing with any kids my age. Can you stop biting me and tell me just how you came to know me? I want to help you but I can't do that if you don't tell me what happened."

She felt Hidan remove his teeth from her shoulder and ignored the feeling of her blood running down her shoulder. The small child in her arms was more important than a little blood right now.

"When you were small like me, I was brought to you with lethal injuries. I think I was the one of the only people that you willingly healed with your gift. While you were healing me, I think you shared some of your power with me. You showed up here in the Abyss while you were healing my physical and we played here for a long, long time. Even after my body was healed and I was taken away, you still stayed here and played with me. I think your magic was keeping part of yourself here with me. Then one day you disappeared and I never saw you again, until I ran into you at that bar.", The child like Hidan explained before burying himself in her shoulder as he took a slow, shuddering breath.

Sakura felt her heart break a second time. The sadness that laced his voice made her chest ache. He just sounded so fucking _lonely._ And she had been the one that had left him that way. She dropped her head onto his small shoulder and took her own shuddering breath. She couldn't remember healing a small child with silver hair, but he remembered her, and that was all she needed to know.

"Hidan, I'm going to share my gift with you again and continue to do so until you no longer need me. If you need me forever, then so be it. I will share my gift with you and I will do everything in my power to make sure you are never lonely again. I must ask though, why didn't your physical body tell me any of this when he ran into me?", Sakura asked softly into his small shoulder.

"We didn't want to scare you, I tried to tell him that he should tell you the truth about who we were, but my Outer self wouldn't listen to me. He didn't want to frighten you away now that he had found you. Haven't you notice that we gravitated towards you? That whenever you're alone on the ship, we aren't very far away? We've been lonely for so long and we finally found you. We didn't want to lose you a second time.", Inner Hidan explained softly, completely relaxing into her embrace. Oh how he had longed to see her again.

"I wouldn't have been scared of either of you, I would have questioned you, but I wouldn't have run away. I did notice that you seemed to follow me around a bit, but it never bothered me. I questioned the connection I felt towards you, but never thought that it would be because of something like this. I will never leave you alone again, please believe me when I tell you this.", she pleaded with him softly before unwinding one of her arms from around him and lifted it to run her fingers comfortingly through his hair. She heard him sigh with content and smiled into his shoulder.

"I believe you, but what will you do now?", he asked, lifting his head from her shoulder and looked her straight in the eye, waiting for her answer.

"I am going to transfer my some of my power into you. Can you tell me about the rampages that your Outer self was having? I was able to calm you down before you snapped the first time, but I couldn't seem to get through this time until I touched him with as much magic as I could accumulate into my palm. The moment I touched your physical body, everything went black and I woke up here.", Sakura asked.

"The last bits of your magic disappeared from our body last time, the connection we shared through your gift was the only reason you were able to calm us. We lash out due to an anger that we can't seem to let go of. We can't even remember why we're go angry anymore. We don't want to be like this anymore. We just want to be free and, as his Inner, I believe that you are the only one who can truly grant us the peace we want so badly. Will you help us, Sakura?", the silver boy explained with a sigh.

"Of course I will help you, I'll do everything in my power to help you. I'm going to transfer more of my power into you and, if I understand correctly, a smaller version of myself should appear here in the Abyss. I will make sure to tell your Outer self that I will transfer more of my power into him whenever he needs me to. As I said, I will not let you be alone in this place again.", Sakura nodded before untangling her hand from his hair. She held it up and willed as much power as she could to gather in her palm.

Once Sakura was satisfied that she had enough power gathered, she leaned back and placed the glowing hand right above Inner Hidan's heart. She pushed the glowing energy into his body and grunted as she felt her energy drain from her body. Once the glow was gone from her hand and her power was transferred into his body, she pulled her hand away with a tried sigh. She closed her eyes and willed the dizziness that was engulfing her body away. She cracked an eye open she heard a small, girly giggle behind her. She turned her head to look behind her and her eyes widened when she saw a smaller version of herself standing there, smiling widely at the child like Hidan in her lap.

"It's been awhile, Hida-kun! I missed you!", she chirped happily.

Sakura didn't resist when Hidan struggled to get out of her lap, she released him from her arms and watched him all but tackle the smaller version of herself to the ground in a bone crushing hug. She couldn't help the happy smile that graced her lips before it dropped and the dizziness she felt getting worse.

"It looks like it is time for you to leave this place. Take care of my foul mouthed Outer self!", Inner Hidan ordered with a laugh, his small hand curled around the child like Sakura's hand.

Sakura could only nod slowly before she felt her eyes roll to the back of her head and her world became black once more.

* * *

Sakura awoke with a groan, her head was killing her. Her thoughts quickly wandered back to the conversation that she'd had with Hidan's Inner self and let a small, pained smile grace her lips. Her head may have been killing her, but the fact that she had been able to help him surpassed the pain throbbing through her skull. She cracked her eyes open and quickly shut them when she was assaulted by the sunlight shining through the windows of the infirmary. It seemed that she had been moved onto one of her cots when she had passed out. She would have to thank whoever moved her later, they had saved her from one hell of a backache. She opened her eyes slowly again, allowing her eyes to adjust to the light. She turned her head and noticed that Hidan was waking up too, she frowned when she saw the bandage that was wrapped around his wrist.

Had she hurt him when he had lunged at her? She couldn't remember a damn thing.

"You are finally awake, Sakura. How are you feeling?", a voice asked.

Sakura turned her head, noticing that it was Pein who had addressed her.

"I feel like a horse decided to make my head it's personal stomping grounds. The hell happened, Captain?", Sakura groaned as she brought a glowing green hand to her forehead to soothe the pain in her head.

"Hidan went into a rage and attacked both you and Itachi. Itachi sustained a few injuries but is perfectly fine now. You and Hidan have been out for three days.", Pein explained slowly. "We were starting to wonder if either of you two were ever going to wake up."

"Sorry to disappoint, Pein. You aren't getting rid of me that easily, or quickly for that matter,", she replied with a small smirk. She raised her body into a sitting position as carefully as she could and sighed when she felt the joints in her back pop back into place. She lifted a hand to her shoulder and raised an eyebrow when she felt the bite mark that Inner Hidan had left when he had pounced at her.

 _'Strange...I didn't think that it would stay there since I wasn't physically there. It would seem that I was wrong.'_

"Trust me, I'm more than relieved that you have finally decided to wake up. You as well, Hidan. How do you feel?", Pein replied before turning his head to look at the silverette that was slowly raising himself into a sitting position.

"I feel like Sakura beat me half to death with a fucking tree.", he groaned in response before turning his head to look at the pink haired woman on the cot next to him. A look of guilt washed over his features. He had attacked her, tried to hurt her, he had betrayed her trust.

"Don't look so guilty, Hidan. I understand what happened and I don't blame you.", Sakura assured with a small smile. "Although, if you or Chibi Hidan bite me like that again, I really will hit you with a tree."

"Hidan bit you?", Pein blurted out with a raised eyebrow.

"I bit you? The fuck?", Hidan asked, just as confused as their Captain.

"Yeah, pretty hard, too.", she replied with a shrug before moving her hair away from her shoulder to show the small bite mark. Both males winced at the angry bite mark on her shoulder, neither knowing what to say about it.

"Sorry about that, I guess the kid gets kind of feisty.", Hidan apologized with a sheepish grin.

"Don't even worry about it. He was angry, I can't really blame him.", Sakura replied with another shrug. What was done was done, she wasn't going to hold it against him. He hadn't been in control of his actions.

"As lovely as this is, would either of you mind explaining what the hell you are talking about?", Pein asked, utterly confused. He had no idea what either one of them was talking about.

"Sorry, Pein, I'd rather not talk about it.", Sakura apologized. She really didn't, As far as she was concerned, the situation only concerned herself and Hidan. And, if she had it her way, she would prefer it to say that way. It seemed that Hidan shared her thoughts and nodded in agreement.

"What she said, Pein. I don't want to fucking talk about it. Shit like this won't happen again.", the silver haired pirate assured.

"If you two are sure...but if this happens again, you will tell me everything.", Pein agreed with a small sigh. He wanted to know, yes. But he wasn't going to force them to tell him anything. He was their Captain but he wasn't about to force them to spill every detail about their lives to him. As long as it didn't interfere with their jobs, he would allow them their secrets.

"Thank you for understanding. You mentioned that we've been out for three days, it didn't stall our departure from the docks, did it?", Sakura asked warily. She really hoped that they hadn't delayed them by being unconscious for three full days. The guilt was practically pouring off of her in waves.

"No, we left on schedule. We are only a few hours away from our destination. We will be picking up the three remaining members of the crew there. Once we have finished our business there, we will be be setting sail once again.", the Captain explained, mentally sighing in relief when her guilt ridden expression disappeared from her features.

"Oh, thank the Fates.", she sighed before swinging her legs over the side of the cot. She stood unsteadily for a moment as the blood rushed back to her legs. Being out cold for three days sure did numb your legs, she thought with a frown. Once she was sure that she wouldn't fall over, she walked over the Hidan's cot and sat on the edge. She grabbed his bandaged wrist and pouted when she realized that it was broken. She allowed her hands to glow and quickly repaired the damage that she was sure that she had caused. Once she was finished, she released his wrist but made no move to stand.

"You didn't have to do that, Doc.", Hidan grumbled. "I deserved the shattered wrist for attacking you."

"Don't blame yourself, Hidan. You weren't in control and I don't blame you. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. What do you say we go let the others know that we're still alive and kicking and grab a bite?", Sakura suggested, she wanted nothing more than to distract the poor man from his self loathing thoughts.

"Yeah, let's go eat. Just hope the others don't try to fucking slaughter me for attacking you.", Hidan mumbled before swinging his legs over the cot and lifting himself into a standing position. He placed a hand on the wall and took a deep breath as he waited for his body to readjust to consciousness. He knew that Sakura was trying to distract him and make him feel better, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. He had attacked her, whether he was aware of it or no, he had still tried to hurt her.

Sakura mentally sighed, she knew that it would take a little while to convince the silverette that he wasn't to blame, but she knew that she couldn't force him to let it go. She slid off the cot and placed her hand on his shoulder, when he turned his head to look at her questioningly, she shot him a small smile. Once she was confident that he wasn't going to fall over, she pulled him over to the newly repaired door and ushered him into the hallway. She guided him through the halls, noting that it was unusually quiet below deck.

 _'Everybody must be on deck taking care of business. Time to see my boys doing their pirate duty.'_ , she thought with a small smirk.

"Something funny, Doc?", Hidan mumbled. He allowed her to lead him down the halls, knowing that if she left him alone, he was more likely to hole himself up in his room and ignore the outside world. Oh, what he would have done to have Kakazu there to smack some sense into him. If the old, stitched up bastard was good for anything, it was forcing him to get over his self pity.

"Just looking forward to seeing everyone. Even though it doesn't feel like I've been out of it for three days, it does feel like it's been forever since I've seen any of them. Plus, I need to thank whoever repaired the door in the infirmary and whoever moved us to the cots. I'm starting to remember our little spat. Sorry I threw you through a door.", she explained with a chuckle.

"Trust me, I fucking deserved it. Thanks for stopping me, Doc. You're taking all this shit surprisingly well though.", he pointed out with a raised eyebrow. He reached out and pushed the door that led to the deck open and waited for her to exit first before following her outside.

"Why wouldn't I take it well? Everything was explained to me and I was happy to help with the small problem you were having. The only thing that does bother me is the fact that you never mentioned that we've met before.", she replied with a smirk. It was true, she wished that he had told her everything, rather than keep it all to himself.

"I'll tell you anything more that you want to know later, if you want.", he sighed. He truly did have a lot of explaining to do.

"I'm holding you to that. Now, let's go see everyone.", she ordered with a smirk before scanning the deck for Deidara.

When she spotted the blonde teenager lounging on his back on the floor, she smirked. He had discarded his shirt once again and had thrown his arm over his eyes, shielding them from the suns unrelenting rays. He had cushioned his head on his other arm and seemed to be blissfully unaware that she was up and around. She turned towards Hidan and gave him a mischievous smirk, one that he surprisingly returned. He nodded his head and her and she took off like a bullet.

Sakura ran towards the blonde as fast as her legs could carry her. She gracefully twisted her body out of Kisame's way as he walked across the deck with a heavy barrel balanced on his shoulder. The shark shot her a toothy grin as she passed, silently telling her that he was glad to see her back on her feet. When she closed in one Deidara's sleeping body, she launched herself towards his prone body and snickered when she heard him yelp as her body came in contact with his own.

"The hell, yeah?", the blonde groaned pitifully.

"Wow, Dei, I would have thought you'd be more happy to see me. Guess I'll just go tackle Itachi or Kisame, they'd give me a welcome back hug.", Sakura pouted from her position on his chest.

"Sakura? You're awake?", Deidara cried, his eyes shooting open in an instant. He grinned widely when he took in the pools of pink hair that were flowing over her shoulders and onto his chest and the deck floor.

"No, I'm the ghost of Itachi's imaginary pet frog. Yes, I'm awake, fool.", she smirked before rolling herself off of his chest and took a seat next to him.

"Itachi has an imaginary pet frog, yeah?", Deidara asked with a raised eyebrow. While he was completely thrilled that his pink haired friend was awake, the thought of Itachi having an imaginary friend, a frog no less, was hilarious. True or not, the thought was just plain funny to him.

"No idea, but I like to imagine him sitting in a rocking chair with knitting needles, knitting little froggy sweaters so his best frog friend doesn't get chilly.", she laughed.

"Why knitting needles?", the blonde asked with a raised eyebrow. He lifted himself into a sitting position next to Sakura before turning his head to find that Hidan was up as well. He was engaged in a heated conversation with Kisame. The blonde smirked, it looked like the silver haired pirate was back to normal too. Though he would never admit it out loud, the ship had been way too quiet without Hidan's loud mouth and Sakura's scolding. It was good to have them back.

"I don't know, for dramatic effect?", she replied with a shrug. Both teens turned their gazes and locked eyes for all of three seconds before they broke into a fit of giggles.

"You're a riot, Sakura. It's good to have you back, yeah. What the hell happened? I heard a huge crash and found that you'd not only thrown Hidan through the door, but that you'd punched it off of its hinges. I saw you tackle him and hit him with a glowing hand and then everything just kinda stopped.", Deidara asked, he leaned back and rested his weight on his arms, his gaze never leaving hers. He refused to tell her that the sound of her pained scream was still haunting him at night. When he had heard her scream, he had immediately thought that she had been seriously injured or worse.

"Well, I was giving Itachi a check up and he kinda hugged me once I was done. I tripped backwards and fell and ended up bringing Weasel boy down with me. I'm guessing that Hidan must have heard me yelp and heard the crash when we hit the ground. Itachi landed on top of me and I think when Hidan entered the room he must have gotten the wrong idea. He attacked Itachi and I wasn't able to calm him down. Itachi lost consciousness and Hidan kind of turned on me. You know the rest after that.", she explained, deciding that leaving the raven haired pirates impending blindness out of it.

"Makes sense, yeah. But I can't help but wonder what you did to knock both of you out cold for three full days. You worried all of us, you know.", he pouted before letting out a sigh. He supposed that he couldn't blame Hidan too much for his reaction. In truth, he probaby would have reacted the same way. Sakura was his friend, she had shown him a kindness that he had not been lucky enough to experience until now, he wanted nothing more than to protect her.

"Sorry for worrying you, Dei. Mind telling me who moved us onto the cots and who fixed the door?", she asked before she reached up and ran her hands over his cheeks to smooth out his pout. While he looked absolutely adorable while pouting, she didn't want him worrying about him anymore than he already had been. She knew he would never admit it, but she had a feeling that he had been more worried about her than anyone else.

"Kisame and I moved you, Itachi, and Hidan onto the cots. Itachi was fine the day after everything happened. Sasori fixed your door though, he's the only one on the crew that could be trusted not to mess it up, yeah.", Deidara answered with a shrug.

"Kracken-kun didn't molest my unconscious body, did he?", she asked with a teasing smirk. She knew that the blue man wouldn't do anything of the sort, but she couldn't help but tease the poor blonde.

"Oh, hell no, yeah! I carried you.", he pouted.

"Dei...did you molest my unconscious body?", she asked with a laugh.

"Damn it, Sakura!", Deidara cried while flailing his arms at her, his cheeks a healthy shade of pink. He knew that she was teasing him, but it was just so embarrassing!

"I'm kidding, Dei. I should probably grab a bite to eat and then go thank Kisame and Sasori for their help. And then I should probably go check on Itachi.", she sighed. "Plus I still need to clean up the mess in my infirmary. Just kill me now, yeah?"

"I'll take care of cleaning up the infirmary, yeah. You go eat with Hidan, he looks like he's about to eat his boot. Kisame will probably join you too.", the blonde offered with a small smile.

"That'd be great, Dei. I'll make it up to you later.", she replied with a smile. She lifted herself from the floor and offered Deidara a hand up. Once his hand was firmly grasped in her own, she pulled him to his feet. Before she could pull her hand away, she felt something soft and wet glide across her palm. She raised and eyebrow questioningly at the blonde and received a sheepish grin in return. He let out a small laugh and shook her head before freeing her hand. Oh, how her favorite blonde was lucky he was cute. She turned on her heel and made her way over to the other two men on the deck, raising an arm to wave at him from over her shoulder.

* * *

Sakura calmly walked towards Kisame and Hidan, silently wondering what they were talking about considering they were being more quietly than normal. The flailing arm gestures from both parties were getting more and more interesting by the moment. She raised a silent brow when she noticed that both Kisame and Hidan were pointing in her direction every so often.

 _'Are those idiots talking about me? The hell could be so important that they need to talk so quietly?',_ she silently wondered. She mentally shrugged and figured that they would tell her later if it was really all that important.

She stopped her trek when she was within feet of the two males, straining her ears to hear what they were saying while she waited for them to notice her presence. It seemed that she wouldn't have to wait long, Kisame quickly shushed Hidan and turned his head to greet her.

"You're finally awake, Kitten. How was your nap?", he snickered. When he had seen the scene between the small woman and a rampaging Hidan, his respect for her had grown as he witnessed her hold her own against him. He knew that they would be okay eventually, but couldn't help but be curious about what had transpired before they had found Itachi unconscious and the two of them fighting. Finding a woman who could hold her own again Hidan, of all people, was rare. He silently wondered how she would handle a spar against himself, especially since his sheer size dwarfed her.

"Slept like a wee baby, Kisame.", she snorted with a wave of her hand. "I was going to go grab a bite to eat, would you two care to join me?"

"I could eat.", the shark man shrugged.

"You're a bottomless fucking pit, Kisame. Let's go eat, Doc.", the silverette smirked. After talking with Kisame and straightening a few things out, he had managed to calm himself and distance himself from his guilty thoughts. He knew that he would never truly be able to forgive himself for what had happened just days before, but he felt a little better about it.

Sakura gestured for Kisame to lead the way seeing as she had not been shown where the kitchen was when she had first been given a tour. It had not only slipped her mind, but Hidan's as well. She and Hidan followed the older male below deck and followed him down the hall, passing her bedroom and the infirmary along the way. From land, the ship seemed to be your average sized ship, but once you were on board and able to explore, you realized just how massive the trip truly was.

 _'It's pretty much a floating fortress. Wonder if they've got turrets and shit stashed away somewhere.',_ she thought with a smirk.

After a few minutes of walking below deck, Kisame pushed open a door on the left side of the hall and gestured for the duo to enter. Sakura was floored by the sheer size of the kitchen and dining area. It was larger than her bedroom and infirmary combined. Cupboards had been built into the walls, no doubt overflowing with food that would not spoil anytime soon. After three days of sleeping and not having anything to eat, Sakura wasn't about to start up the decent sized wood stove in the corner. Filling the stove with wood, lighting a fire, and waiting for it to heat up required more patience than she possessed at that moment.

There would be other times that she would be able to woo her crew mates with her cooking at a later date.

She passed by Hidan and Kisame and started rummaging through one of the cupboards for something to eat. She found a sealed package of dried meats and decided that they would have to do. Once she was satisfied with her choice, she hoped up onto one of the counters in the room and dug into her meal as ladylike as she could manage. She heard the two males chuckle and looked up from her lap to question their laughter when she zeroed in on what Kisame was eating.

"Kisame...what are you eating?", she asked, her eye twitching.

"Um, fish?", he replied with a confused tone.

"You're...you're a fucking cannibal!", she cried, pointing her finger at the fish in his hands, noticing as an after thought that is was fucking _raw._ She completely ignored Hidan as he fell to the ground in a fit of tear inducing laughter.

"Oi, I'm not a fucking cannibal!", the blue skinned man defended, dropping his meal on the small table next to him.

"You have gill, man! Gills! That fish has gills! You're eating your brother!", she shrilled, her smoked meats lay forgotten on the counter next to her.

"I'm pretty sure this fish is female, Sakura.", he pointed out.

"You're eating your damn sister! That's worse!", she screeched, completely missing the sound of the door of the kitchen being opened by a curious Itachi and Sasori.

"This salmon is NOT my sister!", the blue man cried.

Hidan could barely breathe at this point due to his laughter.

Itachi and Sasori silently watched the scene unfold from the doorway, both of them pinching their noses together to refrain themselves from laughing and joining their silver haired comrade on the floor. This woman was just too much! The duo felt two more presences behind them and slowly turned their heads, only to find Pein and Deidara peering into the kitchen. Deidara was biting his lips to contain his laughter. Pein's shoulders shook in silent mirth as he listened to their petite, pink haired medic berate their shark like comrade for eating his 'sister'.

"Sakura and Kisame continued to bicker back and forth, completely oblivious to the fact that the entire crew, save for the three members that were not on board, were watching the entire scene unfold.

"Look at that salmon! It's got your eyes, Kisame! That is clearly your sister!"

"I'm a shark hybrid! Not a fucking salmon!"

"You didn't deny that she has your eyes! What's her name?!"

"Salmontha!"

"YOU NAMED YOUR SISTER SALMONTHA?! THAT ISN'T EVEN CLEVER!"

"My mother named her!"

"So she is your sister!"

"...shit."

A dull thud and four new bursts of laughter broke the two arguing pirates out of their argument. Slowly, they turned their heads towards the four new bodies that were piled up in the doorway to the kitchen. The sight of the entire crew laughing so freely brought a smile to Sakura's face. She turned back to look at Kisame. The moment they locked eyes, the duo could no longer hold in their laughter.

Kisame fell to the floor with a loud thud, his roars of laughter trembled through his entire body.

Sakura fell from her position on the counter and landed on Hidan, her face buried in his chest as peals of laughter erupted from her throat.

It was good to be back from the Abyss, that was for sure.

"WAIT!", Sakura suddenly cried, throwing herself off of Hidan's chest. Six pairs of eyes widened and turned to her in alarm. She wasn't hurt, was she?!

"WHO THE FUCK IS STEERING THE SHIP?!"

"SHIT!", came the reply, seven pairs of feet thundered out of the kitchen out onto the upper deck.

Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to leave Tobi alone on deck and in control of the ship?!

* * *

When the seven members of the Akatsuki piled their way onto the deck, they took in the horrifying sight of Tobi driving the ship. They didn't seem to be off coarse, thank the Fates. But the mere sight of him having control of the ship was enough to make even the most hardened criminal quake in fear. Their destination was thankfully coming into sight and before the mask wearing pirate could even think about turning the ship in any direction other than straight ahead, Kisame dove for the ledge that held the wheel. The large blue man knocked the giggly pirate out of his way and retook his spot at the helm.

Everyone let out a small sigh of relief.

Sakura's observation had saved them from a whole mess of trouble.

"Well, that's one way to spend the day after you've been out for a couple days.", she laughed. She'd been awake for a mere couple of hours and it had already been filled with amusement and entertainment.

She could really get used to this.

"So, where are we headed anyway, Pein?", she asked with a raised eyebrow as she pointed to the large island that the ship was closing in on.

"We're headed to the Isle of Light. The last three members of the crew are there taking care of business. We will be docking there for a few days and then we shall depart. When we land, you and the others will be expected to procure funds and any equipment we may need.", Pein explained. After seeing her take on Hidan, he had no doubt in her abilities. If she could take on a member of the crew and come away nearly unscathed, she should have no problems taking down a bounty or two.

"I suppose I can live with that. After being out cold for three days, I could use a workout.", she snorted.

"I could give you a workout if you want, Pinky!", Kisame called out from his position behind the wheel.

"Do you eat your brothers and sisters with that mouth, Salmon Boy?!", she called back with a smirk.

"SHUT UP!"

"Nicely done, Sakura.", Sasori commented, coming up to stand by the pink haired pirates side.

"Thanks Sasori, and thanks for fixing the door to the infirmary. I appreciate it.", she replied with a small smile.

"It was my pleasure. Pein, who will you be sending her with when we go hunting for bounties? She doesn't exactly have a partner.", the red head asked, turning his head to regard the Captain.

In truth, Pein hadn't even thought about it.

"Partner?", Sakura spoke up, not really understanding what they were talking about.

"Yes, partner. When we are on land, we always go pick off a bounty or two to procure funds for the ship. We go out in pairs in case the person is more dangerous than the bounty suggests. I think I will send you out with Deidara and Sasori this time. With Deidara's aerial fighting and Sasori's use of puppets, I believe you three would make a nearly unstoppable team.", Pein explained with a nod of his head. He ignored the slight glare that Hidan sent his way, no doubt the silver haired man had wanted Sakura to go with himself.

"I can live with that. I didn't know you used puppets to fight, Sasori. How does it work?", Sakura asked excitedly.

"It would be easiest to show you.", Sasori replied softly as he lifted his hands, his finger tips glowed an ocean blue color.

Before Sakura understood what was going on, she felt her body become slightly numb. She could no longer control her limbs. Without her permission, she felt her arms lifting above her head before she felt her body shift and do a front flip. Suddenly, she understood what all of those discarded puppet parts in his room were for. She understood why he was so good with wood crafting. He built his weapons and used them in battle. He could also manipulate the human body.

An interesting gift indeed.

"This is pretty cool, Sasori. I suppose that's what all those puppets in your room are for, eh?", she asked with a smirk.

"Indeed.", he nodded before his fingers stopped glowing, his control over her body breaking completely.

"Just do me a favor and don't hit me with a tree, Sakura.", Deidara piped up with a smirk.

"Don't tempt her, Blondie, she might do it." Hidan snickered.

"If anything, she might just throw you at a tree, Hidan.", Itachi sighed.

"Just be careful which trees you uproot, it would be a shame if Zetsu was napping in one and it suddenly went flying.", Kisame shrugged.

"Wait, do it, listening to Zetsu squeal in terror would be hilarious.", Deidara snorted.

"Uh, who the hell is Zetsu and what is your obsession with me throwing trees?", Sakura asked out of confusion.

"Zetsu is one of the more interesting members of the crew. He rarely travels with us because he has other duties but he will be joining us for a little while. As for the trees, you would have to ask the others.", Pein explained with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Okay...Boys, what is with the obsession with me and trees?", Sakura asked slowly, turning around to watch all of their responses.

"Strong women are hot.", Kisame admitted with a shrug. He was a hotblooded male, dammit. Let a man dream.

"Your strength is intriguing, you were able to shatter every bone in my hand, you know.", Itachi replied.

"I have no interest in your tree carrying ability, just your fighting style.", Sasori offered, even though if she knocked a few trees over for him, collecting materials for his projects would be a whole lot easier.

"I agree with Sasori.", Deidara admitted sheepishly.

"You're a pretty lady.", Tobi squealed only to receive a strange look from everybody on the ship, Pein and Sakura included.

"I just want to see how fucking strong you are, you managed to throw be through a door made of solid oak.", Hidan sniffed.

"If you're all done discussing this, we are about to dock.", Pein called out, disrupting his crew from questioning the medic further.

"Alright! Let's go get us some bounties!", Deidara cheered.

* * *

The Akatsuki's ship docked with ease. Once they were satisfied that the ship would was successfully anchored, Sakura, Deidara, Sasori, Kisame, and Itachi filed off of the ship. They left Pein, Tobi, and Hidan to watch the ship while they made their way towards the township that was temporarily housing three of their comrades. Sakura's body buzzed with silent excitement, not only was she going to get some action, she was going to meet the three remaining members of the crew.

They silently walked up the short path that would lead them straight into town, all of their eyes pealed in case mercenaries of other hunters decided to try to take one of them out. Though she was unaware of just how much her head was worth, Sakura knew that, she too, had a price on her head. She had seen wanted posters of herself during her travels as a runaway. She had no doubt that it had been her father that had put a price on her head.

 _'Probably figured that if he couldn't make money off of me, nobody else should.'_ , she thought bitterly. Of course, just as she was starting to feel more at ease, her thoughts just had to go back to her tyrant of a father and her greedy mother. She had left that life behind and she still could not manage to truly escape its grasp.

"You okay, Sakura? You look kinda pissed, yeah.", Deidara asked quietly. As they walked along the path, they had to do everything they could to be as quiet as they could, lest they attracted any unwanted attention. The township wasn't too far where they had docked the ship, but as pirates, they could never be too careful when they were on dry land.

Unless they were docked near Ame, then they could do as they pleased. It was almost like their little safe haven off the seas. One that all of them would forever be grateful for.

"I'm fine, no need to worry, Dei,", she whispered. She received a small nod in return and their gazes returned to the front, staring straight ahead of them.

* * *

The five comrades walked in silence for another ten minutes before an almost silent rustle in the bushes caught their attention. Before any of them could react, a throwing dagger flew from the bushes an narrowly missed Itachi's left ear. The raven haired pirate had moved his head just in time to dodge the attack. Within seconds of the dagger being thrown, numerous mercenaries of various ages emerged from the brush, effectively surrounding the small band of pirates.

"Look what we got here, boys! Four seriously wanted men and their whore!", a tall, balding man jeered.

"Who the hell are you calling a whore?", Sakura asked calmly, turning her head to regard the leader of the mercenaries.

"You, Pinky. And once we're done with your little boyfriends here, you'll be our new toy. Isn't that just wonderful?", the leader snickered.

"I think I'll have to pass. You look pretty disease ridden and I'd hate to get infected. Fates only know when the last time you've bathed. I'd much rather keep my lady bits, along with the rest of my body, disease free.", she sighed.

"You're going to pay for that, bitch! Attack!", was the roared response.

The five pirates nodded quickly to each other before darting in opposite directions, each of them engaging their own enemies. Sakura heard a popping sound and quickly realized that it must have been Deidara taking to the skies to pelt his enemies with his explosives. She turned herself towards the men who had been daring enough to think that she was the easiest target to take out.

"Aww, you want to play with little old me?", she cooed, forcing herself to blush for effect.

When one of the men rushed at her, sword drawn and poised to strike, she smirked. She raised a magic filled hand and caught the blade within in, ignoring the small amount of pain that came when the blade connected with her skin. She smiled sweetly at the man before clenching her fist around the blade, effectively shattering it into useless shards of metal. She grinned wickedly at the stunned man before thrusting her other hand back and throwing it forward, reveling in the sound of the bones in his face snapping as he flew away from her.

"Who else wants to play?!", she giggled with sadistic satisfaction.

More and more men came after her, trying everything they could think of to catch her off guard. The moment their weapons would connect with her body, effectively drawing her blood, she would turn on them and throw them in random directions. Their bodies snapping against trees, some even flying straight threw them. She laughed wildly at their sad attempts at killing her. She idly wondered just how much these people were being paid to hunt them down, wondering if losing their lives was worth it in the end.

When the men she were fighting were finally down for the count and out of her way, she took a moment to turn around to observe her comrades in action. She saw small bits of gunpowder and clay lining random tree branches and patches of dirt beneath their feet. She saw Deidara floating contently on one of his clay owls, watching as the others finished up their fights.

She saw the people that had been intending to fight Itachi locked in a battle with each other, no doubt caught up in some sort of illusion. She had no idea how Itachi fought his battles, she had never had a chance to question him about it. She could see that his eyes had bled red and that the markings in his eyes were spinning lazily a he watched his enemies destroy each other.

She turned to the spot where Sasori had been fighting, noticing that a few of his puppets had lost limbs during his fights. No doubt when he had probably used them as shields when mercenaries had gotten a little too close to comfort. Her eyes locked with his for a short moment, both of them shooting the other a smirk of satisfaction. Both completely impressed with the others style of fighting.

Sakura pivoted on her foot and took in the amount of carnage that Kisame had left in his wake. She saw a sword dangling from his hand, one that she had never seen before now. The sword seemed as if it was covered in sharp scales that were perfect for shredding his enemies and anyone else who got in his way. She was a little grossed out by the amount of various body parts and organs that seemed to litter the dirt covered ground but mentally shrugged it off.

If they hadn't fought and killed them, it would be their body parts laying around on the ground.

"That was quite the performance, Pinky.", Kisame remarked, throwing her a wink.

"Hey, it's not my fault that they thought I would be an easy target because I'm a woman.", she retorted in response.

"Remind me to never piss you off, yeah. My body aches just looking at that tree.", Deidara snickered, thrusting his thumb over to a tree that was all but reduced to splinters.

"I agree with Blondie.", Kisame agreed.

"I must say, I never thought that you could hold so much strength in that tiny body of yours, my apologizes for underestimating your strength, Sakura.", Sasori apologized softly, his cheeks blushing brightly at his admission.

 _'No man should ever look that cute when he blushes. Don't pinch his cheeks, Sakura, don't do it! Resist, bitch! Resist!'_ , she mentally squealed.

"I never doubted you for a moment.", Itachi threw out there with a small smirk.

"Why, thank you, Itachi.", she giggled.

"You're bleeding.", Sasori observed, pointing at the small cuts that littered her arms, chest, stomach, and a single bright red streak on her cheek.

"Oh, these? Don't worry about them. They'll heal on their own.", she shrugged. In truth, she barely even noticed that they were there.

"If you are sure, let us continue. We should not stay here longer than we must. The others are expecting us and they no doubt heard our fight.", Itachi suggested, gesturing for the group to continue. They were only about ten minutes from the township and the quicker they arrived, the better.

"Let's move then.", Sakura nodded before following the raven haired pirate down the path, the others falling in step next to her. She noticed that Deidara had dispelled his transport and had dropped to the ground right next to her. He sent her a small, impressed smile. She returned his smile and returned her gaze to the path in front of her.

* * *

About ten minutes later, the group of five entered a small inn on the edge of the township. When the innkeeper realized who they were, he directed them up the stairs and had given the room number where they could find their comrades. Once they were outside the door that Konan, Zetsu, and Kakazu were held up in, Sakura rested her back against the opposite wall while Itachi knocked on the door, signaling the occupants that they had arrived.

The door of the room cracked open and a woman with blue hair and striking orange eyes opened the door. Once she realized who was standing outside of her room, she opened the door and gestured for them to enter. When it became Sakura's turn to enter the room, the blue haired woman barred her entrance.

"And just who are you?", she asked coldly.

"Sakura, the new medic.", Sakura replied smoothly, not even a little bit bothered by the woman's cold tone.

"Let her in Konan, we have much to discuss.", Sasori ordered sternly, gesturing for her to move aside before grabbing hold of Sakura's hand and pulling her into the room.

Sakura nodded gratefully to the red head before turning her body to regard the three other members of the crew that she had yet to meet. Her eyes locked with a pair of striking yellow eyes, noticing that the mans body was two different colors. One side of his body being a blinding white, while the other was so black that it reminded her of her time wandering around in the Abyss. A green shock of hair spiked up from his head. But that wasn't what caught her off guard. No, it was the gigantic Venus Flytrap that seemed to encase his body.

"Okay, when I mentioned plant men, this is _not_ what I meant.", she sighed.

* * *

 **Okay, so I don't think that these chapters are getting any smaller any time soon. But who is really going to argue with that?! 12,000 word chapters for the win! Yeah! Whoop! Okay, I'll contain my excitement.**

 **Lots of stuff going on in this chapter!**

 **Sakura mildly fights with Hidan!**

 **Sakura gets sucked into Hidan's inner mind! That's right, I gave him an Inner!**

 **Thoughts on his Inner?**

 **Thoughts on her experience in the Abyss?**

 **Sakura and Hidan were out for three days! Oh, the horror!**

 **Itachi apparently has an imaginary frog and knits it little sweaters in Sakura's mind. Don't ask where the hell that came from, I have no fucking clue, man.**

 **Kisame eats his siblings, oh the horror!**

 **You got a tiny fight scene! I am still getting used to writing them so bear with me, please!**

 **Tobi got to drive the pretty ship and thinks the medic is a pretty lady, how sweet!**

 **Konan, Kakazu, and Zetsu are finally in the picture, baby! Whoop!**

 **Also!**

 **The pairing for this story is NOT decided. Who would you love to see our dear Sakura end up with. Remember that the rating is subject to change and there could be lemons to be had later down the line!**

 **Again, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	6. Bounty Hunter

**And I'm back! Sorry it took a little longer than usual to get this chapter out! Been a little busy and this chapter decided it didn't want to work with me for a few days, the stupid brat. But, she's finished now and I'm excited to get this posted for your viewing pleasure. A little shorter than normal, sorry!**

 **Warning; there is an OC in this chapter who will be popping up throughout the story but the story will not center around her whatsoever. They will, however, impact the story in a unique way. Discussions of child abuse, enslavement, abuse, and other dastardly things lie head.**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot this story and the OC used in this chapter.  
**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

 _Previously;_

 _Sakura nodded gratefully to the red head before turning her body to regard the three other members of the crew that she had yet to meet. Her eyes locked with a pair of striking yellow eyes, noticing that the mans body was two different colors. One side of his body being a blinding white, while the other was so black that it reminded her of her time wandering around in the Abyss. A green shock of hair spiked up from his head. But that wasn't what caught her off guard. No, it was the gigantic Venus Flytrap that seemed to encase his body._

 _"Okay, when I mentioned plant men, this is_ not _what I meant.", she sighed._

* * *

Sakura covered her mouth in embarrassment when she realized that she had spoken her thoughts out loud. Her eyes locked with the plant man's flashing yellow eyes for a moment before she ducked her head in shame.

 _'Me and my big mouth.'_ , she internally groaned. She'd just have to hope to the Fates and any other deities that decided to take pity on her that she had not managed to offend the green haired man across the room. Even from a distance, she could tell that the mandibles surrounding him were indeed _not_ there just for decoration.

"Anyway...Sakura, this is Konan, Zetsu, and Kakazu, the remaining members of the crew.", Itachi explained, pointing out each member as he stated their names.

Sakura received another cold look from the woman, Konan, and brushed it off. She had done nothing personally to this woman and she would be damned if she allowed herself to be intimidated. She had not heard anything about the three people in front of her from the other crew members and had no idea what to expect from them. Though they had explained to her that Zetsu was quite the interesting person, they had completely forgotten that the man was half fucking _plant._ Then again, who was she to judge?

Deidara had mouths on his palms. She could crush mountains with her bare hands. For Fate's sake, Kisame was _blue_. The fact that Zetsu had an enormous plant attached to his body shouldn't be this surprising. She had to admit, she was quite curious as to why he had a Venus Flytrap attached to his person, but some questions were better asked later. Hell, she couldn't even tell if there was anything remotely interesting about Kakazu, seeing as most of his body was covered. Hell, she couldn't even see his mouth.

 _'Seriously, if looks could kill, I'm pretty sure this Konan chick would have destroyed me a few times over by now. Maybe she's jealous? Best not to speculate. I'll just avoid her as much as I can. No sense attracting unwanted attention from members who don't seem to enjoy my very existence.',_ she thought with a small roll of her eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you three, I'm Sakura, the new medic.", she introduced herself with a curt nod. Another cold look was shot in her direction from the blue haired woman while she received to small nods from Kakazu and Zetsu.

"So, how many targets are left this time?", Sasori asked, silently deciding that it was best to distract the two women in the room. He didn't know what was going on with Konan, he had never seen her act so cold towards anyone in the past, especially a new crew member. He silently speculated that Sakura being a woman could be part of her glaring.

And then there was Sakura. While her face remained void of emotion, he could tell that Konan's constant glaring was starting to annoy her. He was well aware that the medic had quite the temper and could easily destroy the blue haired woman. Granted, he would never allow the two women to fight each other seriously. But he had a feeling that if Sakura were to fly into a rage, there would be no stopping her.

"We have three bounties remaining before our work here is done. If we are going to get these done before tomorrow, we will need to split into three teams and take down the targets as soon as possible.", Kakazu explained in a bored tone. He really couldn't care less who the bounties were or how many targets there were, he just cared about how much money their cold, lifeless bodies were worth.

"The Captain assigned Sakura with myself and Deidara this time around. You five may split yourselves into two teams however you wish.", Sasori replied as he walked over to where Sakura was standing and draped his arms around her shoulders and plopped his chin onto her shoulder. When she shot him a small, questioning glance, he shrugged. He couldn't help but smirk as he watched Deidara silently fume at the sight of him draped over the woman who was easily becoming his best friend. With a small yawn, he gestured for the young blond to join himself and Sakura in their little corner of the room.

Itachi and Kisame snorted when the young blond all but pranced over to the red head and the medic.

Zetsu watched with silent interest as Deidara scooted Sasori over and claimed one of the medic's shoulders for himself.

Kakazu and Konan looked unimpressed.

Sakura just rolled her eyes at Deidara's poorly concealed jealousy.

"So, Sasori, Sakura, and Deidara will be one team. How shall we split the rest of the group?", Itachi asked smoothly.

"Konan and I will handle one of the targets together. That leave you and Kisame with Zetsu.", Kakazu replied easily.

"Works for me, just don't go eating the target once he's down, Zetsu.", Kisame sighed. He had no idea why Pein had the oddly colored man help with bounties, he usually ended up devouring the target and losing the money.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Kisame's comment and looked to the two men currently using her shoulders as a chin rest for an explanation. They both shot her a look, silently telling her that they would explain it later. She slowly nodded and returned her attention to the rest of the group.

"So, who is our target, yeah?", Deidara asked excitedly. After seeing Sakura in action nearly an hour ago, he was left craving more displays of her destructive power. While his and Sasori's definitions of art differed greatly, he knew that the red headed puppet master admired her artistic genius. Even if the pink haired medic was completely oblivious to her artistic fighting style.

"Your target will be a woman named Vorona Dikaya. She is wanted for the destruction of her home village. If she is turned in alive, the reward doubles. She may be a woman, but she is not to be underestimated. According to her wanted poster and the rumors that have been spread about her, she is quite deadly. Since there are three of you and only one of her, you three are more likely to take her down.", Kakazu explained with a small sigh.

"I'm just going to go ahead and ignore that woman comment, you pig. Physical description and any battle traits that we should be aware of? Kind of hard to hunt someone down when you have no idea what they look like.", Sakura asked with a slight sneer. She had only known the man for less than an hour and she was already thoroughly convinced that he was a sexist pig. She silently promised to beat the crap out of him if he even attempted to say something sexist to her in the future.

"According to reports, he has snow white hair that is tied into two pigtails that extend down to the backs of her knees. Her eyes are bi-colored. One bright green, the other a deep purple. She is said to have a gift but nobody can quite explain what it is. They suspect that her gift allows her to see into the future, making her more than a little difficult to fight. Every hunter that has gone after her in the past has either died or barely walked away alive.", Kakazu rambled off.

"Sounds like my type of lady. What about her fighting style? Anything on that?", Sakura smirked.

"Unpredictable. The few people that have fought her and lived to tell about it described it as a destructive dance. She is said to carry a circular blade across her back that is able to slice through the thickest of trees. I am sure that I do not have to tell any of you to be wary when you approach her.", he replied. He didn't have much faith that they would be getting the money for this bounty, but it was a high ranking hunt and the payout would be worth it if they managed to succeed.

"Sounds like a good time, yeah. When do we leave?", Deidara asked. Him and Sasori rarely got interesting bounties when they landed so it was a nice change to have a challenge for once.

"Might as well head out now, toss us the scroll with her information and we shall depart.", Sasori shrugged. The faster they got this done, the fast they could return to the ship. He had projects that he would much rather work on than be stuck hunting for fugitives. Especially when the entire crew consisted of wanted criminals. Something about hunting their own kind bothered him, especially if the woman they were supposed to find was said to be gifted like most of the crew.

"I agree with Sasori. After hearing that description, I'm dying to see how this will turn out.", Sakura nodded, catching the thick scroll that Kakazu threw towards her easily. She shrugged her boys off her shoulders and gestured for them to follow her out of the room.

Once the door clicked shut behind them, the remaining five crew members returned to the task at hand.

"Are you sure that they will be able to handle a woman like that? I do not doubt their abilities, but this bounty is a lot different from the ones that we usually take on.", Itachi couldn't help but ask.

"Aww, you worried about your little girlfriend, Itachi?", Konan sneered.

"The hell is your problem with her, Konan? She didn't do a damn thing to you.", Kisame snapped, completely fed up with the blue haired woman's attitude towards the medic.

"She exists. She probably just joined the crew to get into Pein's bed, along with the rest of yours.", the woman retorted.

"Are you daft? She's our medic, nothing more, nothing less. I don't understand why you seem to think that every woman is out to get into the Captain's pants. You jealous, Konan?", Itachi asked smoothly. While he was not the sort of person to get in the middle of conflicts, he was not about to sit there and allow Konan to demean the medic.

"Jealous? Of her? I thought you were a genius.", she snorted.

"That is enough, Konan. You will cease this ridiculous behavior and focus on the task at hand. If you have an issue, bring it up with the Captain once we are finished.", Kakazu snapped irritably.

Zetsu just sat and watched the scene unfold with interest.

"Fine, I will. Who the hell are we hunting this time?", she demanded, letting the subject for the time being. Once they returned to the ship, she would demand that Pein booted the woman from the crew. There was only room for one woman on the ship and that spot was already filled. She would not allow some pink haired bitch steal her place within the crew.

* * *

Sakura exited the inn with both Sasori and Deidara flanking her sides. She examined the scroll in her hands, memorizing every detail that she could about the woman they were supposed to be hunting. In the back of her mind, something about hunting down people that were in the same situation as her and the rest of the crew just didn't sit right with her. She knew that the ship needed the money, but she didn't want to have to sacrifice lives in order to do it. She was more than willing to destroy people who truly deserved to have their lives stolen from them, but she refused to believe that a single woman was capable of obliterating her entire village without a justifiable reason.

"If you glare any harder at that scroll you'll burn a hole in it, Sakura.", Sasori pointed out with a raised eyebrow. He could tell that the woman next to him had the same thoughts as he did. There was a little more to this bounty than met the eye. He knew that there were many powerful women out there roaming around, but he had yet to run into any individual, man or woman, that would destroy their home just for a good laugh. There just had to be more to it than that.

"I agree with Sasori, what's wrong, yeah?", Deidara asked, his eyes wandering around lazily, taking in the scenery of the forest around them as they exited the village. While he was excited to have a challenge for once, he never really enjoyed the killing part. He knew that this woman could be taken alive, but he knew that she would just be killed later. He had seen enough death in his young life and had never grown used to the feeling that followed the act of taking someones life from them.

"I just think that there is more to this story than the scroll is telling us. I mean really, how many people would willingly destroy their village and murder all of the residents for no reason?", Sakura explained, her brows furrowing as she read over the material. She glanced over at Sasori thankfully when he pulled her around a large stick in the middle of their path. She had been so engrossed with examining the contents of the scroll that she hadn't been paying attention to much else.

"I was thinking the same thing, honestly. I can't imagine anybody being completely willing to murder their friends and family, along with innocent bystanders.", the red head nodded, his own brows furrowing as he thought about the situation that they were about to get themselves into.

"I agree, yeah. The fact that they doubled the payout if she's alive when she's brought in is weird, yeah. Usually, they want the targets dead.", Deidara pointed out with a nod.

"I suppose we will just have to wait and ask this Vorona woman ourselves when we find her.", Sasori sighed.

"If we find her.", Sakura groaned.

"I'll take to the skies and see if I can't find her. If she's in this forest, I'll be able to spot her no problem.", Deidara suggested as one of his hands snaked into one of the pouches that were slung around his narrow hips. He plucked out a small lump of clay and got to work crafting an owl to use.

"Good idea, Dei. That'll make the search a lot easier. Better hurry, I'd rather not get stuck out here once the sun gets down.", Sakura nodded, gesturing to the mid-afternoon sun. If they were lucky, they would have about five or so hours left of daylight. Not really a whole lot of time to work with. The sooner they finished, the better.

"Scared of the dark?", Sasori teased.

"Oh, yes. Absolutely terrified. If we get stuck out here all night, you two may have to hold me as I tremble in fear.", she shot back sarcastically with a small smirk.

"I'd hold you, Sakura, yeah!", Deidara cheered before a small popping sound was heard and the distinct sounds of wings flapping turned both of his partners attentions towards him.

"Pervert.", Sasori and Sakura muttered together, both of them shaking their heads at their blonde partner's enthusiasm.

"I'm not a pervert, yeah! See if I offer to cuddle either of you ever again!", the blonde pouted before taking off on his transport to survey the surrounding area.

Once the blonde was out of sight, Sakura turned her attention to the red head standing next to her. She noticed his left eye twitching and resisted to urge to snort with amusement.

"He offers to cuddle with you?", she smirked.

"Not another word, Doll.", the red head groaned before leading her in the opposite direction that their partner had gone. He figured that they might as well do their best to find their target instead of standing around and waiting for him to find something.

If he found something.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Sakura let the subject go for the moment and followed her partner through the trees. She focused her senses and kept a sharp ear out for any movement in the foliage that surrounded them. Though they had information about the target, they had no idea if Vorona would attack them on sight or not. For now, it was better err on the side of caution.

* * *

After about an hour of wandering aimlessly through the thick, wooded area, Sakura was about ready to give up the hunt. Her and Sasori had been walking around for more than an hour and had not heard from their blonde partner. Nor had they managed to find anything that indicated that they were getting any closer to finding their target. They knew that finding their target wasn't going to be an easy feat, but this was just plain annoying.

"Control your emotions, I can feel your annoyance from here, Doll.", Sasori scolded quietly.

He supposed that he couldn't really blame that young woman for being annoyed with their situation. He admittedly wasn't the most patient person on the planet, but her getting upset was not going to make their job any easier. If anything, it would probably alert their target of their presence. Then again, their were rumors that the woman they were looking for was able to see into the future so there was a chance that she was already aware that she was being hunting.

"Sorry, Sasori. I just can't believe that it is taking this long to find a single woman. Just how big are these damn woods?", Sakura groaned before sighing. She knew Sasori was right, she needed to calm herself down.

Just as the red head was about to respond to his partner's question, the sound of a small explosion cut off his words. Both of their heads whipped around towards the direction of the blast and with a small nod of agreement, they turned on their heels and ran as quickly as their legs would carry them. They both knew for a fact that Deidara would not engage the target without them.

Something was wrong and Deidara was facing it alone.

With that thought in mind, Sakura pushed her legs to run faster, noticing that Sasori was starting to fall behind due to her burst of speed.

"Go! I'll catch up!", He called out sternly.

She nodded her head in agreement and pushed her legs even faster, hoping to the Fates that she wouldn't be too last to help her blonde friend. She grit her teeth as she ran, her thoughts running a mile a minute. She had no idea what sort of situation that she was running headlong into, and at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care. As long as Deidara was safe, she could give two shits less about her own safety. She knew that with Deidara being on his bird that he was probably safer, but she also knew that fighting hand to hand was his weakness.

If he fell off his bird, he was done for if she didn't arrive in time. With a small growl, she braced her body before flinging herself into a tree, knocking it to the ground. Not only would Deidara know that she was on her way, there was a chance that his attackers would flee the scene. Not many animals had the physical strength to knock over a fully grown tree, and she was sure that there were fewer humans with the ability to do so as well.

She leaped over the fallen tree and skid into the clearing, her eyes narrowing when she saw Deidara floating a few meters off the ground, his transport barely staying together as it floated in the sky. She took in the blonde appearance and ground her teeth together at his bruised and bloodied state. While they had not managed to knock him off of his bird, they hand managed to hit him with an array of specialized weapons. She disregarded the couple of bodies that were strewn around the clearing, not even bringing her to care about their demise.

They had attacked her best friend and her partner, if he had not killed them, she would have done so in a heartbeat.

They had gone after Deidara specifically, it seemed. The bounty hunters that had attacked him knew all of his weaknesses and had waited to strike until he was alone. She couldn't deny that their strategy was a smart one, but they had forgotten one simple detail that would now become their downfall.

It seemed that they had taken into consideration that he would not have backup on the way.

"Oh ho ho, what do we have here? This is your backup, Deidara? I was expecting your would be savior to be taller. And a man, if we are being honest.", a voice called out from the shadows.

"You shouldn't underestimate your enemies, regardless of their gender.", Sakura shrugged. "Dei, you okay? You look like shit!"

"I'm fine now that you're here, yeah. My transport is pretty much toast though, sorry.", the blonde called out before lowering his bird to the ground. The clay creation broke apart as it landed, parts of its body dropping to the ground with a wet plop.

"Suppose you're out of clay?", she sighed as she slowly made her way to her partner's side, taking a defensive stance in front of him.

"Yeah, been holding them off for awhile now. Surprised you didn't hear it, yeah.", came his reply.

"We were quite a ways away. Sasori will be here soon, he told me to go on ahead.", Sakura mumbled quietly.

"While I hate to break up this touching reunion, I am afraid that I am going to have to take Deidara off your hands now.", the hunter called out from across the clearing. He stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself to Sakura.

As Sakura took in the appearance of the man who was trying to take Deidara away from her, she wanted to recoil in disgust. The man's skin was a sickly shade of grey, signaling that his body was slowly dying. His yellow eyes were sunken in, dark, purple bags stood out around his eyes. His standard hunters gear was torn and ratty, it looked as though the man had not had a proper bath in weeks, even months if the smell was anything to go by. His lips peeled back in a sinister smile, showing off cracked and broken yellowing teeth.

"And what makes you think I'll just had over my partner to the likes of you?", Sakura asked, her eyebrow raised in question.

She had no doubt that she could take the man down if he charged her and her partner, but she thought the better option would be to wait for Sasori to arrive. With the red head there, she wouldn't have to worry about watching Deidara's back. She would clearly tell that the blonde was exhausted and didn't feel comfortable leaving him to defend himself when he was ready to fall over in exhaustion.

"Because it's about time that he's returned home.", the hunter cackled sadistically.

Sakura felt Deidara flinch behind her. She knew Deidara's story. She knew why he had run away, he didn't even have a home to return to. His parents had sold him to a wandering freak show. A freak show that he had burned to the ground and been pulled out of the wreckage by Sasori.

"You mean to return him to the freak show and force him to endure the torture he sustained as a child again?", Sakura asked slowly, her shoulders tensing with anger. The man had best choose his words wisely, otherwise, there was a chance that he would die where he stood.

"Of course, you, of course, will be joining him. With such exotic pink hair, you would be quite famous. You and that red headed partner of yours.", the man replied with a sadistic chuckle.

"You'll die where you stand!", Sakura sneered, her lips drawing back in a snarl.

"Get them, boys.", the man ordered.

Before the partners could comprehend what was happening, they both felt needles entering the sensitive skin in their necks. The drugs that were administered into their systems took immediate effect. She heard Deidara's legs give out from behind her and heard him collapse in a heap behind her. She fought against the will of her body, demanding for it to stay upright. If she went down, there would be no helping Deidara. She heard a rustle in the bushes a few feet away and her eyes widened when an unconscious Sasori was unceremoniously tossed into the clearing.

It was all up to her, her legs refused to move when she commanded them to. She couldn't even channel her gift into her arms of legs. Whatever they had injected them with, it blocked off their abilities and number the body. With an angry grunt, Sakura's legs gave out from under her, bringing her to her knees. She glared defiantly at the man and his crew. They had managed to get the better of them and she had no idea what she could do to turn the tables. She instantly regretted not taking him out while she had the chance.

Then again, she had never expected this man to actually have some intelligence.

"Aww, your legs gave out. What happened to your big talk and assuring me that I wouldn't get my hands on Deidara.", the hunter taunted.

"If you take us, you'll be signing your own death warrant.", she hissed between clenched teeth, willing herself to stay calm. Somebody had to have heard the explosions. She could only hope that the other members of the Akatsuki weren't too far away and had heard the fight between Deidara and this man.

"You're not so scary when you can't even stand, Pinky.", he commented with a shrug, completely calm about the current situation. In his mind, he had won and he was going to claim his prize.

"It isn't me that you need to be scared of.", Sakura replied with a bark of bitter laughter.

She could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the area. Who they belonged to, she couldn't say. She hoped to the Fates that it was a friend rather than foe. Her vision was fading fast, her mind slipping in and out of consciousness. At this point, her and her partners would be nothing more than sitting ducks for this man to do with as he pleased. She had promised to protect those that she had cared about and she had failed to do so.

"Your threats don't scare me, kid.", the hunter barked before advancing on the defenseless woman kneeling on the ground mere feet from him.

Sakura felt a booted foot connect with her head and saw a flash of white before darkness consumed her and her consciousness left her.

* * *

When Sakura awoke, she let out a groan of pain. She really needed to stop waking up with killer headaches. Her head felt like it was ready to explode. She tested her limbs and found that she was able to move them again. She mentally thanked the Fates that the drugs that had been forcefully administered to her body had worn off. She shakily raised a hand to her head and allowed her gift to soothe the pounding in her head.

Once her headache was a thing of the past, she warily sat up and realized that she was laying in a bed that she did not recognize. She turned her head and found that both of her partners were laying in beds as well, both of them still unconscious. She sighed in relief when she saw that they were unharmed but wondered where they were. It was clear that they were not within the clutches of the man that had tried to take Deidara away from them.

"Oh, I see you're finally awake. It's about time.", a feminine voice commented.

Sakura whipped her head around so quickly that she was surprised that her head didn't disconnect itself from her shoulders. Her jaw dropped slightly when she saw the face of their savior. Striking, snow white hair that hung past her waste. A bright green eye boring into her own green eyes. White bangs covering her right eye, Sakura suspected that the eye was the purple, future seeing eye that she had read about. She was wearing nothing but breast wrappings and form fitting black pants, her feet bare against the wooden flooring.

"Vorona Dikaya?", Sakura spluttered before coughing. Her throat felt like sandpaper. She nodded gratefully at the white haired woman when she crossed the room and handed her a glass of cool water. She quickly drained its contents and set the glass carefully on the small, wooden table next to her bed.

"That would be me, I suppose you are the pirates that have been trying to find me. You're after the hefty bounty on me head, no?", the woman, Vorona, nodded.

Sakura offhandedly took note of the foreign accent that laced the woman's words. She clearly wasn't from anywhere around here.

"More or less. My partner's and I were more curious about the reasoning behind your villages slaughter. The scroll we were given stated that you murdered your entire village and have been a wanted criminal since that day.", Sakura admitted sheepishly.

She couldn't help but realize that the woman they were supposed to be hunting was a lot different than the scroll had suggested. The snow haired woman had admitted that she knew that Sakura and her partners had been looking for her, and yet, she had still saved them from that man back in the clearing.

"I will not deny my crimes, I did indeed slaughter the entire population of my village. But the reasoning behind it was never disclosed to the public. There was a reason behind my villages demise. I assure you, I am not a violent person just for the sake of being violent. There are many things in this world that not many are capable of understanding. If you wish to know everything, I will not deny you your right to the information. But I would suggest that we wait for your comrades to awaken.", Vorona replied, nodding towards the two sleeping men in the room.

"I can live with that. I'm Sakura by the way, the blonde is Deidara, and the red head is Sasori.", Sakura agreed, pointing at her sleeping boys.

"It is a pleasure, I assure you. You already know my name, obviously.", the woman smirked before settling herself in a sitting position on the edge of Sakura's bed.

"May I ask how long we have been out? And why did you save us anyway?", Sakura couldn't help but ask.

"You have been out for about four hours, so not very long. My reasoning behind your rescue is simple, I do not condone the kidnapping and torture of others. I was in that clearing during the entire altercation. I watched your blonde friend fight off his attackers, it was quite impressive. If he had needed assistance before your arrival, I would have came to his aid.", she responded with a small shrug.

"So you saw his gift, huh?", Sakura murmured, her eyes roaming back over to her precious blonde haired friend.

"Indeed. It is the first time I have seen something of that caliber. He uses it well. I see you have the Mystic Palm, quite an impressive gift indeed.", Vorona noted, nodding towards Sakura's hands.

"Mystic Palm?", the younger woman asked, confusion lacing her voice.

"Yes, Mystic Palm. That is the name of the gift you were blessed with.", the elder woman explained.

"I never knew it had a name. How do you know that is the name of my gift?", Sakura asked, still completely confused. Never before did she think that she would ever find someone who was actually familiar with the gift she possessed.

"Because, I know of another woman who carries that gift. She was quite the healer back in the day. You are not only able to use your gift to heal, but to destroy as well, no?", Vorona asked, her eyebrow arched in question.

"You seem to have a lot of knowledge about what gift entails.", Sakura pointed out.

"I'm a wanted woman, I have a lot of time on my hands.", came the smug reply.

Before Sakura could make a comment, she heard two groans next to her. Her gaze returned to her partners, she allowed herself a small, relieved smile while she watched them readjust to consciousness. They were in for a surprise when they finally decided to open their eyes. Both of her boys groaned again, neither woman could blame them for it. Their heads were probably killing them.

"Morning, Sunshine's!", Sakura chirped before swinging her legs over the ledge of her bed. She slowly stood from her bed and wavered a little. She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, steadying her stance. She shot a thankful look to the white haired woman next to her. Once she was steady on her feet, she slowly padded over to Deidara and raised a glowing hand, placing it on his forehead.

She rubbed his forehead soothingly, when she heard him sigh in content, she removed her hand. She placed a small kiss on his forehead and when she pulled back, she was greeted blue eyes shining gratefully at her. She gave him a small smile before removing herself from his side. Deidara watched her pad over to Sasori and repeated the same process on him, kiss and all.

Sakura helped her boys sit up before returning to her bed and took in their shocked faces as they noticed the extra presence in the room.

"Uh, Sakura?", Deidara asked slowly.

"Yes, Dei?", she replied calmly, already expecting the line of questioning that she was about to receive.

"Why is our bounty target sitting next to you, yeah?", the blonde asked, completely confused.

Sasori looked just as confused, his eyebrow raised in silent question.

"She's the one that saved us from that man that wanted to take you back to what remains of that freak show you grew up in, Dei. She not only saved you life, but mine and Sasori's as well. She was there the entire time that you were fighting without us. If you had needed help, she would have stepped in to assist you.", Sakura explained calmly.

"Wait, she helped us even though we're trying to collect her bounty?", Sasori asked with a slight frown.

"I helped you because kidnapping and torture is disgusting. I was able to help you and I did not hesitate to do so. I understand your wariness of me but I mean you no harm. If I did, I would not be unarmed as I am now.", Vorona spoke up quietly with a small shrug.

"You expect us to completely believe that? The scroll states that you slaughtered your entire village in cold blood, yeah!", Deidara exclaimed, his arms flailing dramatically at his sides.

"She has promised to explain the reasoning behind that now that you two have woken up. I was just as confused as you were until she told me she would explain herself. I am willing to listen to her and hear her out, I would appreciate it if you two would allow her to do so as well.", Sakura explained, her eyes shining pleadingly at her partners.

"Fine, yeah. Only because I trust your instincts.", Deidara pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited.

"I won't lie, I am curious as well. I, too, shall give her the same trust you have given her.", Sasori agreed with a nod.

Sakura nodded thankfully to her partners before turning her attention back to the white haired woman sitting on the bed she had claimed. "The floor is yours, Vorona."

"I suppose I should start by saying that I am from a village known as Sutomugakure, or the Village Hidden in the Storms. It was a village that was constantly under the cover of a gentle rain. The storms that plagued the land were both beautiful and ferocious. The lightening was so powerful, it could take down houses in a single strike. The village held its own brand of beauty though.", she began with a sigh.

"I think I've heard stories of the storms that once ravaged those lands.", Sasori mumbled with a nod.

"Yes, but behind the beauty that my village held, it had its fair share of horrible, dark secrets. Those secrets were its downfall. To the outside world, we were nothing more that your typical village. But if you were a resident, it was a miserable existence. Many of the shops within the villages walls looked like nothing more than your average shop. But after dark, they became something worse. Something disgusting and vile.", she explained, bitterness lacing every word that left her lips.

"Care to explain further?", Sakura asked, her interest piqued and her gut churning with dread.

"After dark when tourists would be in their hotel rooms out like a light, the true meaning behind the shops would come into play. Brothels. Brothels at every street corners, black market operations would set up shop. Illegal drugs and all other forms of transactions would take place. People would bring their children to the markets and sell them off for a quick hit of the next potent drug. Adults would breed just to have a child as a bargaining chip. Children were sold for drugs and in turn, sold to brothels for a profit.", Vorona spat out, her green eye flashing with anger for a moment before disappearing.

"They would have children just to sell them for drugs and then the dealers would sell them to the brothels?", Deidara spat, completely disgusted. Suddenly, he was starting to understand the reason behind the destruction of her village.

"Indeed. Children as young as five or six could be seen entertaining men old enough to be their grandfathers. If a child disobeyed or was no longer able to work, they were destroyed like they were nothing more than animals to be brought to slaughter. When I was younger, I tried to avoid thinking about it. I kept to the shadows, my existence had been completely forgotten. My parents had died when I was a mere child and they never got into the shit that went on at night. I was never sold and was a free child. I could have left the village and never turned back, but I wasn't about to leave all those children to parish in such disgusting ways.", she sighed, her mind flashing with small memories of the horrors she had witnessed.

"So, instead of freeing the children, you killed them instead? Forgive me if I'm overstepping my bounds here.", Sakura asked curiously, her heart breaking with each word that left the woman's lips.

"Most of the children were already dead inside and asked me flat out of end their misery. Their wills had been broken and they did not wish to continue living. I can't say I didn't blame them. The night of the slaughter, I tricked all of the innocent tourists into leaving the village and when night fell, I made my move. I put the children into a deep slumber and disposed of them quickly and painlessly. The adults that condoned this treatment, however, were not so lucky. They received to mercy from me. Once everybody in the village was dead and gone, I sent to village ablaze and left and never turned back. That was four years ago, I've been on the run since then.", Vorona finished, her heart aching at the memories of the children whose lives had been lost prematurely.

"That's fucking sick, yeah.", Deidara spat out, his voice laced with unshed tears.

"I will not deny that my crimes are disgusting and vile, but I cannot say that I regret them.", the white haired woman sighed.

"Not that, yeah. Those sick bastards that sold those children like they were nothing more than a worthless trinket.", the blonde corrected. He make himself blame the woman for her actions. Had he been in her shoes, he would have done the exact same thing. After all, he had technically destroyed his own home when he blew the freak show to pieces. In a way, he understood exactly where she was coming from.

"I see, thank you for your understanding.", Vorona nodded.

"What will you do now, Vorona? You could always come with us back to the ship.", Sasori suggested with a shrug.

"I'm afraid that the life of a pirate is not a life that I seek. I do hope you will understand that.", the woman declined gently.

"Well, why don't you come with us back to the ship anyway. We're going to have to explain to the Captain why we didn't turn you and get the money.", Sakura asked kindly, hoping that she would at least agree to that much.

"I suppose I can do that, as long as you do not expect me to join the crew. My life is pretty peaceful here and I am not quite ready to give that up yet.", she agreed with a small nod. "I'm afraid I can't help but ask though, why have you decided not to turn me in?"

"Because you did the right thing, yeah. If we turned you in for destroying that disgusting place, I'd technically be a hypocrite.", Deidara explained with a shrug.

"The Captain will agree with our choice.", Sasori nodded in agreement.

""Plus, I'm sure he'll have his own questions for you once we get to the ship.", Sakura threw in with a small smile.

"I suppose that I cannot argue with that. For now, we shall stay the night here and return to your ship in the morning. Unless you are expected somewhere before then?", Vorona asked, her eyebrow raised in question.

"I'm all for staying here, I don't really feel like dealing with Konan and her bitching tonight.", Sakura yawned.

"Agreed.", Sasori and Deidara nodded.

Three growling stomachs interrupted everybody's thoughts.

"I think dinner is in order before we do anything else.", Vorona smirked, her smirk widening when she was greeted with three embarrassed, flushed faces.

* * *

When all four stomachs were full and content, they returned the bedroom that the pirates had woken up in hours prior. Vorona retook her seat on the edge of Sakura's bed and watched with amusement as Deidara flopped onto his bed with a contented sigh. She watched the red head lower himself onto his bed in a more dignified manner and snorted with amusement. It wasn't very often that she was gifted with the simple pleasures of simple company.

Being a wanted woman truly was a lonely existence.

"Say, Vorona?", Sakura asked.

"Hmm?", the older woman replied, breaking herself out of her thoughts to regard the younger, pink haired woman next to her.

"Do you think you could tell me more about the woman who also has the Mystic Palm? If I am able to, I'd like to find her and see if there is anything she could tell me about my gift. I figured everything out on my own and I have a feeling that I'm not using my ability at its maximum capacity.", Sakura asked with a small smile.

"Oh, that. Her name is Tsunade and finding her will be quite difficult.", Vorona explained, taking note that the blonde and red head were also listening to her intently.

"Why is it going to be difficult to find her?", Sakura asked as she mentally tucked the name Tsunade into the back of her mind for later.

"Because, just like you, she is a pirate. One of the hardest pirates to locate, at that.", the white haired woman explained with a sigh.

"You wouldn't happen to know the places she would most likely dock at, would you?", Sasori asked from his spot in the room.

"The places she is usually spotted near are Suna, Kumo, and Konoha.", Vorona listed off, noticing that Sasori and Sakura both stiffened as she listed off villages to check.

"Konoha, huh.", Sakura mumbled.

"That's your home town, isn't it, Sakura?", Deidara asked slowly.

"Yeah and I have no intentions of returning to that retched place.", she spat bitterly.

"I was born in Suna and I have to say I share the same sentiment as Sakura.", Sasori sighed.

"If you do not wish to check those lands for her, leave it to me. I can move freely in those lands. I will look in those villages for her and if I find her, I will contact you. When you take me to speak with your captain, I will discuss making a trip to Kumo with him.", Vorona offered with a small smile.

"You'd do that?", Sakura asked wide eyed.

"Sure, sitting around here gets boring after awhile. I'm still young, I need some excitement in my life.", the older woman chuckled.

"Just how old are you, yeah?", the blonde asked.

"Twenty.", Vorona replied with a shrug.

"I think it would be best if we saved the rest of this discussion for the morning. We can talk more about this while we make our way back to the ship.", Sakura suggested with a yawn. Her exhaustion was finally starting to catch up with her. After hours of wandering around in the woods, being drugged and knocked out, she was ready to keel over and pass out. When she saw her boys nod in agreement, she could tell they were just as tired as she was.

"Sounds good to me, I shall leave you three to it then. My bedroom is just across the hall in case you should need something.", the white haired woman replied as she lifted herself off of Sakura's bed. She gave her three guests and small smile and exited the room, closing the door silently behind her.

Once the door was shut firmly, Sakura flung herself of her bed and made her way towards Deidara's. She motioned for him to scoot to the side of the bed and he complied with a look of confusion. Once he was moved, she slid into the bed next to him and gestured for Sasori to join them. When he looked at her questioningly, she sighed and explained.

"I thought I was going to lose you two today. I failed to protect you two after I promised that I would never allow harm to come to the people I cared about. I just want some reassurance that you two are still here.", she admitted with a small sigh.

With a gentle smile, Sasori nodded and slid off his own bed. He slid into bed next to Sakura, effectively sandwiching her between himself and Deidara. She let out a contented sigh when she felt both males swing an arm over he waist. After a little wiggling, the partners got comfortable and were asleep within minutes. Sakura's head was buried in Sasori's chest and her back pressed comfortingly against Deidara's chest.

None of them were even aware that Vorona had slid the door open and had watched the entire scene unfold. The white haired woman smiled gently and closed the door once more before padding off towards her own room.

* * *

 **Alright! Like I said, a bit shorter than the last couple of chapters have been. Again, sorry about that. An update is an update, right?**

 **As I said, this story will not be centered around the OC that was introduced but she will be popping in every so often throughout the story. More of that will be explained in the next chapter. Speaking of the OC, what is your opinion of Vorona?**

 **Fun Fact. Vorona Dikaya translates to Savage Crow in Russian.**

 **Yes, I made Konan a bitch. There will be an explanation for that later on, don't worry!**

 **Not a whole lot to say this time around, sadly. I will try t get the next chapter up as soon as I am able to.**

 **Again, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	7. Explanations

**First off, I want to apologize for taking so damn long to update this story. I never intended for it to take this long to pump out a chapter. But here we are, so forgive me? Sadly, this chapter is no where near as long as the other chapters have been, but I did say early on that not all the chapters would be 8000+ words. Regardless, I hope it was worth the wait.**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story and the OC featured in it.**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

Previously;

 _Once the door was shut firmly, Sakura flung herself of her bed and made her way towards Deidara's. She motioned for him to scoot to the side of the bed and he complied with a look of confusion. Once he was moved, she slid into the bed next to him and gestured for Sasori to join them. When he looked at her questioningly, she sighed and explained._

 _"I thought I was going to lose you two today. I failed to protect you two after I promised that I would never allow harm to come to the people I cared about. I just want some reassurance that you two are still here.", she admitted with a small sigh._

 _With a gentle smile, Sasori nodded and slid off his own bed. He slid into bed next to Sakura, effectively sandwiching her between himself and Deidara. She let out a contented sigh when she felt both males swing an arm over he waist. After a little wiggling, the partners got comfortable and were asleep within minutes. Sakura's head was buried in Sasori's chest and her back pressed comfortingly against Deidara's chest._

 _None of them were even aware that Vorona had slid the door open and had watched the entire scene unfold. The white haired woman smiled gently and closed the door once more before padding off towards her own room._

* * *

Sakura sighed with content as her body slowly woke up. Last night she's had the best sleep that she could remember ever having in her eighteen years of life. She buried her head further into Sasori's chest, unwilling to leave the comfort of his and Deidara's arms just yet. The night before she had come close to losing two people that she held very dear to her heart. Guilt ate away at her nerves as she recalled the images of Sasori being thrown carelessly around like a rag doll and the look of pure fear that had etched its way onto Deidara's features.

Even reliving the memories were almost too much for her to bare. She felt two arms stiffen around her, both of them pulling her closer to their respective bodies. She held back a small smile, her boys were finally deciding to join her in consciousness. She rested her chin on Sasori's chest and watched as his eyes opened blearily. He shot her a lazy smile before closing his eyes again and resting his weight back on his pillow. She snickered at his morning laziness and looked over her shoulder and caught Deidara pouting at them.

"It's a little early to be pouting, don't you think, Dei?", she laughed softly, her laughter growing slightly in volume when his pout became more pronounced.

"Why does he get better cuddles than me, yeah?", the blonde whined before pulling the pink haired medic away from his red headed partners chest.

"I was comfortable, you brat.", Sasori grumbled before blindly reaching out his arm in search of the woman to had been forcibly removed from his chest.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Deidara and Sasori's complaining. If someone had told her that she would become a pirate and get dragged around for cuddles when she became a runaway, she probably would have asked them how much they'd had to drink. When she felt Sasori blindly grasp her arm and start to tug her back into place, she shook her head at his pushiness.

Instead of allowing herself to be dragged back and forth like some sort of rag doll, she untangled herself from Deidara's grasp, ignoring his protests as she did so. Once she was freed, she rolled onto her back and tugged both boys towards her, both of them rolling and landing on her chest. She felt both boys stiffen at their position and she let out a small bark of laughter.

"If you two can't learn to share then we are just going to have to cuddle like this until Vorona comes and grabs us.", she explained, running her hands through their hair. Once they heard her explanation, they both relaxed into her bosom. Normally, she would have beaten the ever loving shit out of anybody who dared touch her chest, but these two were different.

They were her partners for this mission.

And if she was going to cuddle, she was going to be comfortable while doing so.

"If anybody had suggested that I would be getting a face full of your chest while out on this mission, I would have smacked them and laughed in their face, yeah.", Deidara mumbled into her chest.

"For once, I agree with the brat.", Sasori agreed with a small sigh.

"Trust me, the feeling is mutual but it's better than you two yanking me around like a teddy bear.", Sakura smirked.

The three partner's laid in silence for about ten minutes, absorbing each other's presences as much as they could. All three of them lifted their heads when they heard the door open and watching as Vorona stepped into the room. She smiled gently at them, as if she had expected to find them in the position they were in.

"It would seem that you three certainly made yourselves comfortable. Are you guys up for a quick breakfast before we make the trip to your ship or would you rather we waited until we got there to eat? The choice is yours, I don't mind either way.", the white haired woman asked with a small tilt of her head, her smile still firmly attached to her lips.

"It would probably be best that we make our way back to the ship. The Captain is probably worried that we never returned and I'm sure the other's have already made their way back without us.", Sakura suggested.

"That would probably be our best choice.", Sasori agreed before slowly removing himself from Sakura's side. If he'd had his way, he probably would have laid there all day with her. Normally, he couldn't stand the thought of human touch, but with her, it just felt right. He was actually comfortable around this woman, which was a completely new feeling for him. He was sure that Deidara shared his thoughts as well.

But then again, you never knew what was going on in the blondes head. And part of him really didn't want to know either.

"I guess we're heading back to the ship to get a bite, yeah.", Deidara sighed with a nod before rolling himself off the bed and landing in a graceful crouch on the floor.

"That works just fine with me, let us depart then. I would like to get this done with so I can get started on tracking Tsunade for you.", Vorona nodded with a small shrug. She had no idea what had compelled her to actually choose to help these people. She supposed that she owed them for not turning her in and allowing her to be killed. She couldn't really continue her work if she was dead, now could she?

"Ready when you are.", Sakura replied with a nod of agreement.

Vorona nodded easily and tossed the each of the pirates a cloak with a hood. It was better that they stayed as hidden as possible. One never knew when any one of them would be recognized. They were all wanted criminals after all. You could never be too careful when out in the open.

* * *

Once the trio of partners and their unlikely friend were ready, they exited the small cottage that Vorona called home. She led them through a winding path full of twists and turns, explaining to them along the way that the trails were needed. If they weren't there, it was likely that she would have been captured and executed long before they'd met her. They traveled in silence, not wanting to alert any hunters in the area of their presence. While they knew they would have no problems fighting off anyone that attacked, they wanted to get back to the ship as quickly as they could. They had no idea what sort of mood Pein was going to be in after their little disappearing act, after all.

Even if it wasn't really their fault that they'd been ambushed. They were more worried about his reaction to them not turning in the woman they'd been ordered to hunt down, instead opting to bring her back to the ship. They really had no idea what to expect when they returned to the ship. But then again, if the white haired woman agreed to help them in the future, none of them could picture him being too angry with them.

It was always wise to have a few friends in the areas you visited often and the placement of Vorona's home was the perfect place to hide out when they spent time on the island. If Vorona agreed to house them when they visited the island, that is. Sakura couldn't picture her turning them away though. She had almost looked excited to have some form of company in her little home. Life as a wanted woman couldn't have been kind to her and Sakura could understand her feeling of loneliness.

"The docks are just through those trees, make sure you do not speak my name until we are safely on your ship. I'm sure you can understand that I don't wish to be seen. You never know where hunters are hiding out during the day.", Vorona whispered just loud enough for her companions to hear. When she saw all three of them nod, she pulled her hood tighter over her face, blocking the view of her striking features and easily spotted hair from view.

The white haired woman led them through the last lining of trees and took a small moment for all of them to soak in the warm rays of the mid morning sun. She silently gestures for one of them to take the lead sense she had no idea what their ship looked like. When Sasori took it upon himself to lead them way, she followed after him when he waved his hand towards them, silently telling them to keep up.

They weaved through the small crowds of fisherman trying to sell their first catches of the day and passed by small stall run by women and children selling all sorts of assortments of goods. The four companions nodded respectfully towards everyone they passed as the made their way towards the Akatsuki's ship. They traveled as quickly as they could without seeming like they were up to no good.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sakura finally saw their ship coming into sight. She let out a small, silent breath of relief. While she wasn't worried about being discovered, it didn't mean she enjoyed taking the risk. But she knew deep in her heart that this was their best chance of getting some answers. She had been left in the dark for so long and she wasn't about to give up the one chance she had at learning more about herself and her abilities. She didn't know what compelled her or her boys to trust the white haired woman, but she knew that their new companion wouldn't dare try to betray them now.

Especially when they were surrounded by who knew how many hunters and the fact that the rest of the Akatsuki crew here within shouting distance. The pink haired medic knew for a fact that Vorona wasn't suicidal, she had made that much clear when she had spoken to them the night before. Sakura just hoped that the rest of the crew would have some faith in the strange white haired woman.

Sakura slowed her pace just enough to fall back to Vorona's side before she whispered just loud enough for the woman to hear.

"Our ship is the one next to that pathetic looking black one a few ships down. Do not speak until we give you the okay once we get on deck. We have no idea how the captain or the rest of the crew are going to handle your presence. We aren't exactly fond of outsiders.", the medic whispered under her breath.

She was satisfied when she saw the white haired woman nod in acceptance out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, Sasori led the group of five onto the ship. Once the three members of the Akatsuki and their guest were safely on the ship, the trio of pirates tossed the hoods of their cloaks over their heads and breathed a sigh of relief. They'd doubted that they would be spotted or stopped, but that didn't stop the anxiety of being chased by more hunters from rearing its ugly head. Vorona was advised to keep her hood up just in case a stray from the village decided to creep onto the ship in search of an easy steal. She had easily agreed to the suggestion knowing that she was better off following their instructions while she was a guest on their ship.

"I'll go let the Captain know that we've made it back in one piece. I'm sure he's pissed or worried that we didn't come back last night.", Sakura sighed before turning towards Pein's office door.

She supposed that it would be easier for her to speak to Pein about the situation they had found themselves in the night before. As the medic of the crew, she knew she would have an easier time explaining to the Captain why it had not been wise to return after their run in with the people who had held Deidara captive so many years ago. The pink haired pirates temper flared at the memory of the obscene things that the disgusting human beings had said about her dear friend. Vorona had assured her that they were no longer among the living, but it didn't help soothe her raging temper.

The fact that Deidara had been forced to face the people who haunted his dreams again wa what angered her more than anything. She had told him that she would shoulders his burdens and never allow such horrible suffering befall him again. But she had failed to protect him. She had not been able to keep her promise. And he had been hurt due to her failure. That was what angered her the most.

The medic quickly shook those thoughts from her mind and raised her hand to knock on the solid, wooden door that led to Pein's personal office. She knocked once, harder than she intended and flinched when she heard the wood creaked in pain at the sheer force of her knock. She knew that she failed miserably at controlling her inhuman strength when she was under a great deal of stress, but she didn't think that she would end up damaging the Captain's door.

"Sasori's going to kill me when he finds out I ruined another fucking door.", Sakura muttered in annoyance.

Once she heard Pein's voice beckoning her to open the door, clearly understanding that Sakura was the one standing on the other side, she gently twisted the knob and pushed the door open. She stepped into the office quietly and shut the door as gently as she could behind her, not wanting to damage the poor door anymore than she already had.

"Sorry about the door, I didn't intend to knock so hard.", the medic sighed as she took a seat in one of the plush chairs in front of the orange haired Captain's desk.

"An easy fix, that. I'm more interested in why you and the other two did not return last night. Hidan was on the verge of a rampage because nobody could find you, Sasori, or Deidara. Care to explain?", Pein replied sternly, clearly not in the mood for small talk.

"I understand, I guess there's a lot of explaining to do, isn't their.", Sakura sighed in agreement.

"Indeed there is. Explain what happened last night, if you would be so kind.", Pein nodded as he sat back in his own chair, waiting for his medic to explain the events of the night before.

"Well, it started as any other job, I suppose. We went searching for a woman by the name of Vorona Dikaya. She was wanted for the slaughter of her entire village. The boys and I agreed that there was something sketchy about the job request, but we continued looking for her anyway. We wanted to question her more than anything since nobody just wakes up one day and decides to murder everyone in their village, you know?", Sakura began.

When Pein nodded in agreement, she took a breath and continued her explanation.

"Deidara ended up taking to the sky on one of his transports when looking for Vorona on foot proved useless. At some point, we ended up losing sight of him and didn't realize it until we heard explosions in the distance. Sasori and I tore off in the direction of the explosions because he was clearly in trouble. We'd thought that he'd found the woman we were looking for. I ended up running ahead of Sasori and found that Deidara hadn't found Vorona, but somebody else.", Sakura continued, her small fists trembled with anger as she explained what had happened.

"Who had he found?", the Captain questioned with interest.

"He had come across a few of the people who had managed to survive the explosion he had set off when he was a kid. They were trying to take him back! Sasori arrived shortly after I did and it ended up getting pretty violent for awhile there. But they ended up hitting all three of us with poisoned darts that ended up rendering us helpless. Just before we succumbed to the poison, I saw a flash of white and then my vision went black. We didn't wake up until hours later. And when we did, we found ourselves in the home of our target.", Sakura finished with a sigh.

"This Vorona woman is the one who came to your aid, is that correct?", the orange haired Captain asked skeptically.

"Indeed. She was the flash of white I saw. She assured me later that the ones who had attacked us were no longer among the living. She had treated out wounds and had given us shelter. We ended up asking her about her story and we found that her reasoning for slaughtering her village was justified. She knows about my gift and it turns out that it's called the Mystical Palm.", Sakura explained with a nod.

"And how did she come across such knowledge?", Pein asked with a raised brow.

"Because she knows someone with the same gift. She agreed to help me find them as well.", was Sakura's response.

"And just where is this Vorona woman now?", Pein asked next.

"She's on deck with Sasori and Deidara."

"I think it is time that I met this woman, don't you think?"

"I think that would be wise, she had been quite helpful to myself and the boys."

"I shall be sure to thank her for her help."

And so, the medic and the Captain vacated their chairs and made their way out of the office and out onto the deck.

* * *

Pein's eyes immediately honed in on the cloaked figure standing between Deidara and Sasori and made his way over to the trio.

"I can only assume that you are Vorona?", Pein asked with interest.

"That would be me, I can only assume that you are the Captain of this ship?", came Vorona's response.

"It would seem that we have much to discuss.", the Captain answered.

"It would seem that we do.", the cloaked woman agreed.

"I think it would be wise for us to talk in my office. If you would follow me, we can get started.", Pein suggested before turning on his heel and made his way back towards his office.

The white haired woman followed silently behind the Akatsuki captain, leaving Sakura and her boys alone once again.

"I feel like our lives are about to get a lot more interesting.", Sasori groaned.

"Agreed, yeah.", came Deidara's response.

"Hey, at least life is never boring around here.", Sakura pointed out.

Before either of her partners could give her a response, a flash of silver blurred past them and Sakura's yelp of surprise shook the entire deck of the ship.

* * *

 **Alright, so there's chapter seven for you. Again, I'm sorry that it isn't as long as the chapters normally are and for how long this took. I'm hoping to keep up with all my stories a little better from now on. Just be patient with me? Please?**

 **I do not use a beta, so please excuse any mistakes I may have missed during my editing.**

 **As always, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **ALSO!**

 **I am still looking for requests for pairings for this story! No pairings have been decided and I'm leaving it up to the readers! We're going to be sailing into fluff territory soon, so we need a pairing, my friends! All suggestions are welcome!**

 **Okay, I'm really done this time...**

 **Until Next Time x2**


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